FreeWheel says bad ad breaks hurt viewers, not ads themselves
FreeWheel's Viewer Experience Lab, in collaboration with MediaScience, released research indicating that while ads themselves do not reduce program enjoyment, poor ad experiences such as latency, unnatural ad breaks, and slate negatively impact viewer perception of content, ads, and brands. The study, which is the third report from the Viewer Experience Lab, highlights that nearly 80% of viewers are bothered by ad latency and 71% by unnatural ad breaks. FreeWheel plans to announce new tools to address these issues, including enhancing creative approval, managing ad frequency, and reducing blank ads.
Key Takeaways
- Nearly 80% of viewers were bothered by ad latency, which lowered perceived quality of the program, ads, and brands.
- 71% of viewers were bothered by unnatural ad breaks, which drove higher ad intrusiveness (+16%) and lower brand recall (-14%).
- Slates bothered 33% of viewers and were linked to less joy versus a program with no slates, plus a 3% drop in perceived quality of surrounding ads.
- FreeWheel said it has developed tools to improve creative approval, manage ad frequency, and reduce blank ads, or slate.
- The study was the third report from FreeWheel’s Viewer Experience Lab and used in-lab viewing sessions of 30-minute programming on a blinded streaming service.
Why It Matters
The immediate takeaway is that ad load alone is not the problem; execution is. FreeWheel’s research says latency, unnatural ad breaks, and slate are the points where viewer experience and brand outcomes drop. For the broader streaming ad stack, that puts pressure on systems that control ad insertion, frequency, and creative approval, especially as the company says ads are appearing across multiple apps and platforms without adjustments. The next signal to watch is the details of FreeWheel’s announced tools, which it says will be disclosed in the very near future.
Read full article at freewheel.com
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