Mid Roll Ads: What Are They and How to Nail Them to Perfection

Today, encountering mid-roll ads when watching video content isn’t uncommon. On numerous occasions, we frown at the ad. Surprisingly, we find ourselves engaging with an interesting ad, even though it’s interfering with our viewing experience. 

The difference is the latter is well-placed and contextually relevant. 

In this post, we will throw light on what mid roll ads are all about and the best practices to use them to your advantage.

What Are Mid Roll Ads?

Mid-roll ads are video or audio advertisements inserted as a break in the middle of digital content like a social media video, podcast, or any video. It monetizes long-form video content on Facebook, YouTube, OTT, and other ad publishers without disrupting the user experience. 

Usually, the ad publishers have control over how to display mid roll ads. For instance, on YouTube, you can choose the placement of the mid-roll ads. 

Mid roll ads are usually considered for these platforms – 

• Social – Facebook, Snapchat, or YouTube
• OTT publishers – Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and others
• Audio and podcasts – Spotify, Pandora, and SiriusXM

They differ from pre-roll ads which are paid promotional video clips shown before the video starts. 

Here’s a graphic to summarize the differences between pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads.

Benefits and Challenges with Midroll Ads

Mid-roll ads are a great top-of-the-funnel technique to drive user retention and brand awareness. Here are the top benefits of leveraging mid-roll ads to achieve your goals.

Benefits

Improved User Engagement

Mid-roll ads are positioned at a point when the viewer’s interest in the content is at its peak. Hence, they are most likely to engage with the advertisement. They are designed to boost user engagement and retention on full-screen videos on mobile apps. 

Enhanced Brand Recall

Mid-roll ads make a powerful impression on viewers, especially because they are focused and attentive. Thus, they achieve a higher brand recall than other forms of ads. 

Less Intrusive When Placed Thoughtfully 

When placed well like a natural break in the content, these ads are less intrusive and more engaging. Careful ad placement improves brand perception, especially when the ad is relevant to the content being shared. 

Huge Potential for Monetization 

Mid-roll ads offer huge monetization opportunities for app owners, platforms, and publishers. The strategic placement of these ads commands improved engagement rates among top-of-the-funnel viewers, moving them closer to conversion.

Challenges

Though mid-roll ads offer the above benefits, app publishers often encounter a few challenges during their execution. 

• Viewer Frustration
  Viewers often find these ads annoying and interfering with their content viewing experience, thereby adding to viewer frustration.   
  
  
• They Get Less Clicks
  Since the viewer doesn’t want to be diverted to another page when consuming the main content. Hence, there is a bigger chance of them skipping the ad and moving on with the content. 
  
  
• They Are Skippable
  Skippable mid-roll ads on platforms like YouTube and Spotify pose the challenge of being skipped after a few seconds of the ad. So, the user may not view the ad and skip it after a few seconds.

Mid Roll Ad Best Practices

1. Consider Your Goals 

Before leveraging mid-roll ads in your app content, think of what perception you want the users to carry of your brand. Who’s your target audience? Would they be fine with being interrupted mid-engagement while not being able to skip the ad? 

While unskippable ads can maximize brand exposure, they leave a poor taste in the user’s mouth, causing them to turn away. This ruins the prospects of them converting at a later stage of the mobile app marketing funnel.

Consider your goals before implementing them. For instance, if your goal is monetization through in-app purchases or subscriptions, you should experiment with unskippable mid-roll ads. 

On the other hand, if you are looking to improve your app retention, it would be wise to choose skippable mid-roll ads, to improve UX and boost app longevity

2. Place Your Content Appropriately 

In general, mid-roll ads are best placed in the middle of the video content. However, the perfect position depends on the clip length. For instance, if the content is 10 minutes long, it is wise to space ads at intervals, thereby retaining audience attention. Avoid lining up a group of ads as the viewer may exit. 

Reviewing data like when the viewer is most attentive during the video can be beneficial to determining the placement of these ads. Leverage tools that offer information on such engagement highs, allowing you to place the ad without interrupting the flow of content. 

There is no standard way to place mid-roll ads. You need to experiment and find the sweet spot where the ad doesn’t seem intrusive and maintains their interest levels. Start with implementing mid-roll ads in a few videos to study viewer response. This will help you find the best combination of ad placement, ad format, and timing. 

Lastly, minimize interruption by running a short ad and front-loading the brand message. Leverage contextual targeting that matches ads to the content keywords in the transcript.

3. Align Content with Viewers’ Preferences 

Contextual relevance is critical for mid-roll ads as viewer options like skippable and unskippable make retention challenging. Ensure that the ad content is related to the primary content. 

Further, make the ad interactive by including polls, quizzes, or challenges, encouraging users to interact with the ad. 

Advanced technologies like AI and machine learning enhance the level of automation of mid-roll ad placement and context by analyzing user behavior. Further, these tools help publishers target specific audiences in a way that will increase their relevance.

4. Measure Success 

Track and compare changes in the parameters like the video watch time, retention rate, and engagement before and after implementing the mid-roll ad. A drop in these metrics suggests poor ad placement and frequency. 

Gather viewer feedback through surveys to get direct insights into how the ads are perceived. This feedback can help you tailor your ad strategies. 

Finally, rely on technology to offer you useful data on user behavior. A mobile measurement platform can match campaign engagement with in-app actions, offering insights into specific user activities within an app. Consider Apptrove to attribute, collect, and organize your app data and deliver a unified view of your campaign performance. The platform offers data on app install rates, in-app purchases, subscriptions, custom events, sources of traffic, and cost per install among others. Such data is central to building a sound app promotion and advertising strategy.

Summing Up

Mid-roll ads ensure high brand recall and an opportunity for brands to share their narrative with a highly engaged audience. However, app publishers must pay attention to the interruptive nature of these ads and use the tactics shared above to boost engagement and improve experience. 

By aligning with the information shared above, you have a better chance to enrich the viewer’s experience and lead your campaign to success. 

If you are looking for an all-round measurement suite built to propel your campaigns, look no further than Apptrove. With Apptrove, you can identify the suitable media channels, partners, and ad formats that draw the highest installs and maximize returns. Talk to our team now to take control of your mobile marketing efforts. You can also sign up for a free trial to experience the Apptrove advantage.

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