What Are Ad Impressions?

Blog 2 min read | Feb 21, 2018 | JW Player

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Part 3 of 5 from JW Player’s “Anatomy of a Video” Series

So far in our exploration of video fundamentals, we’ve examined embeds and plays. But there’s often a step in between that underlies the success of all AVOD (advertising video on-demand) publishers. Ad impressions are the engines that turn plays into profits. Measuring them correctly and using these insights in evaluating audience loyalty are critical if you want to monetize successfully.

 

Ad Impressions, Defined

An ad impression is measured when an ad is delivered in the first frame. If the ad was skipped before reaching the end, the impression still counts.

Ad impressions can occur before the start of a video (preroll), in the middle (midroll), or after the end (postroll). For the purposes of this blog, we’ll focus on the most common form—preroll.

If prerolls are done poorly, they are the first point of viewer drop-off after the embed. Perhaps the ad took too long to load, or the ad content didn’t grab people’s attention. Or, worse yet, the ad was requested but never filled by advertisers.

 

How to Be Smarter with Delivering Ads

Luckily, these potential challenges have a silver lining—they provide insight into audience fatigue and loyalty. By tracking how your viewers are interacting (or not interacting) with ads, you can make important business decisions, such as how best to retain your customers.

For example, if you detect high levels of ad fatigue and want to prevent viewers from bouncing from your site, you might exercise a certain restraint. You might intentionally hold off on serving ads in the next instance—in the hopes that some users will return tomorrow.

Essentially, you are investing in the lifetime value of the customer. You’re saying: I choose not to give you this ad now, so you are more likely to come back later. Over time, this increased loyalty translates into more ad revenue.

 

Make Your Ad Impressions Count

At JW Player, we offer tools to help you make the most of your ad impressions. Our ad scheduler gives you full control over when to show your ads, and it takes factors into account like video length.

For instance, if your video is 10 minutes long, it could make sense to use a midroll, whereas a 2- to 3-minute video would be a better match for a preroll.

You can gain a more detailed breakdown of your ad impressions through our segmentation tool. The tool is a great way to deep dive into how your ads are doing, slicing out which assets, configurations, or pages are driving the most impressions.

 

To learn more about how to successfully monetize your videos, schedule time to talk with one of our video experts.

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The “Anatomy of a Video” Series explores key measures of a video’s life cycle: embed, ad impression, play, complete, and time watched. Together, they provide a comprehensive picture of how and why viewers engage.