Media buying and selling software supplier STRATA polled 654 online video watchers aged 18+ and found that only 25% were able to identify a brand or product in a video ad within the two second minimum stipulated by the Media Rating Council (MRC).

75% needed three seconds for identification and 44% said it took them at least four seconds to recognise the brand or product being advertised.

The survey also found that 41% of viewers skipped ads before they were able to recognise the brand or product, citing reasons like being in a hurry ( 40%), the ad being run repeatedly ( 20%), ads being too long ( 15%), or not targeted ( 12%).

“The challenge of measuring viewability across different vendors and multiple screens is an on-going challenge, but an agreed upon standard across the industry will help determine ROI and ad effectiveness over time,” said Joy Baer, president of STRATA. “This is an important issue for our media buying and selling clients and we are committed to supporting its evolution in our systems.”