Opera Mediaworks and comScore release new native video ad effectiveness study for auto-playing

With the rapid growth of native, in-feed, auto-play video, Opera Mediaworks and comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) have partnered on an industry-first study on the subject to better understand ad effectiveness of mobile-first video for native environments to help brands drive more impact with their creative. The study, released today, found that brands and agencies are seeing meaningful results from mobile-first, purpose-built video ad creative.

Findings from the study showed that purpose-built, native video ads drove significant lift and outperformed comScore mobile norms1 across key upper and lower funnel brand metrics. When isolating campaigns to those that most closely followed creative best practices for native mobile video, results were remarkably higher, in particular, with lower-funnel metrics tied to converting users to actual consumers.

“Based on the findings, auto-playing video specifically created for native, in-feed environments can have a major impact on results like purchase intent and likelihood to recommend,” says Nikao Yang, SVP for Global Marketing and Business Development, Opera Mediaworks. “While not a substitute for full-screen mobile video ads, native video ads can be a strong complement and a key part of the mobile video marketing mix.”

Following creative best practices for native video yields even greater results when driving consumer conversion and action

For the nine campaigns in the study, purpose-built, native video ads that auto-play in the feed drove significant lift at a 90% confidence level and outperformed comScore mobile norms across key metrics in both upper- and lower-funnel metrics. Mobile-ad recall delivered a 6-point lift overall and consumer perception of the ads as unique was higher by 9 points among the exposed group. Among lower-funnel metrics, brands saw a 5-point lift for intent to purchase metrics and a 5-point lift for likelihood to recommend, while outperforming mobile norms.

However, when isolating the nine campaigns to those that most closely followed creative best practices (ultimately, four campaigns), results were remarkably higher especially for lower-funnel metrics tied to consumer conversion and action, outperforming comScore mobile norms and delivering significant double-digit lift between control and test groups. When comparing the aggregate of nine campaigns to the four campaigns that most closely followed creative best practices, the latter outperformed the former by 3x in favorability, 3x in likelihood to recommend and more than 2x in purchase intent. From a brand awareness standpoint, the campaigns drove nearly 2x in mobile-ad recall and 2x in ad uniqueness.