WHITE PAPER

INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS
A VALUABLE NEW BRANDING TOOL
EXTENSIVE RESEARCH INTO ADVERTISING IMPACT AND APPRECIATION
WHITE PAPER
INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS
A VALUABLE NEW BRANDING TOOL
SUMMARY
In the Netherlands, over a billion videos are viewed
online every month. Four out of every five
Netherlanders aged 13 or over say they watch
videos online. This is a hugely varied audience and
one that will grow exponentially. Not surprisingly,
advertisers are increasingly interested in using
online videos as an advertising medium.
But what can pre-rolls do for your brand? How do
you develop the most effective concept? And why
are pre-rolls still only evaluated on conversion
rates?
Pre-rolls, 15-second ads shown before the start of
an online video, are usually shortened versions of
existing TV ads. However, pre-rolls offer more
possibilities than other mediums, namely
interaction.
Metrixlab, working together with Sanoma Digital,
Lassie and creative digital agency SuperHeroes,
conducted the Netherlands’ first study into the
publicity impact of interaction in pre-rolls by
conducting research on two interactive pre-roll
concepts developed for Lassie, a famous Dutch
heritage rice brand. We wanted to find out what this
new type of pre-roll can do for a brand, brand
reputation and brand loyalty and how consumers
rate them.
Several interesting and striking conclusions were
drawn from the research. We found that interactive
pre-rolls work when compared to standard pre-rolls
and TV ads:
• Interactive pre-rolls have a stronger effect on brand recall,
including better spontaneous brand awareness and
top-of-mind awareness
• Interactive pre-rolls attract more attention
• Interactive pre-rolls are better remembered
• Interaction with a pre-roll is well appreciated
• Interaction in the pre-roll increases conversion
The following pages show the research in detail.
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RATIONALE
Online video is booming. In November 2009, over 30
billion videos were viewed in the United States
alone. To put this into perspective, during the same
period 12 billion search engine searches were
performed.
Online videos are also being viewed in the
Netherlands at a huge rate and it is estimated that
there are approximately one billion videos viewed
online every month. YouTube, Uitzendinggemist.nl,
RTLgemist and MSN Video attract millions of
visitors and more and more websites are starting to
offer videos in addition to regular content. It’s clear
that the use of online video is growing and growing.
The question is: how can advertisers take
advantage?
The pre-roll, a 15 second ad shown before the start
of an online video, has now been introduced to
online marketing. Usually a shortened version of an
existing TV ad is produced. However, pre-rolls offer
much more opportunities than TV, namely
interaction. Consumer interaction with pre-rolls
has been tested in the Netherlands and elsewhere
but results were always measured only in terms of
clicks and conversions. But is the effect that
interactive pre-rolls might have on brand equity
underestimated? We thought it was about time for a
thorough investigation into the effectiveness of
interactive pre-rolls.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The aim of the study was to analyse the effect on
brand equity and make a comprehensive evaluation
into the effectiveness of interactive pre-rolls. We
wanted to find out what an interactive pre-roll can
do for brand awareness, preference and purchase
intent as well as how interactive pre-rolls are
evaluated, appreciated and remembered.
The study, conducted by MetrixLab, took place in
December 2009 in a controlled environment on
Nuvideo.nl and Zie.nl. The study was commissioned
by Sanoma Digital, Lassie and SuperHeroes.
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THE INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS

Creative digital agency SuperHeroes developed four
different pre-roll concepts as part of a campaign
celebrating 50 years of Lassie’s Magic Rice. The
pre-rolls ran for a period of six weeks on Nuvideo.nl
and Zie.nl. During this period, there were no other
Lassie ads available in any other medium: the
setting was 'closed'.

Overview of the concepts:

1. Little Bowl, Little Bow 3. Standard pre-roll: the Magic Cook trailer
Little Bowl, Little Bowl was a game similar to the well known This was a non-interactive standard pre-roll. The video
game ‘Little Ball, Little Ball’, in which the consumer tries to started automatically when the 15-second ad finished.
guess which bowl a cherry tomato is hidden under within 15
seconds. When the consumer clicked on the correct bowl,
there was a response and the pre-roll was extended so that
they could play the game again. The pre-roll could be
stopped using a close button.

4. Split roll
This campaign was designed to see whether a pre-roll viewer
wishes to choose which pre-roll he or she wants to see.
Consumers could choose to see Little Bowl, Little Bowl or the
Magic Pan. If no choice was made, the video started
automatically after 15 seconds.

If the consumer did not click on the pre-roll, then the video
started automatically when pre-roll ended

2. The Magic Pan

The Magic Pan was a so-called ‘out-of-player’ pre-roll. The
consumer was asked, “What do you want to eat tonight?”.
Lassie’s Magic Pan then crash landed at the top of the
consumer’s screen, interrupting them. The consumer was
asked to pull the Magic Pan’s handle to generate a recipe. Metrixlab tested the Little Bowl, Little Bowl and the
After viewing the recipe, the consumer could choose to pull
the lever again to view another recipe or close the window. Magic Pan concepts in a controlled environment.
If the consumer did not click on the pre-roll, the video started As the standard pre-roll trailer and the split roll
automatically when the pre-roll ended.
concepts were more traditional, they were not
included in the brand impact test for interactivity.
They were, however, included in the conversion
study.
WHITE PAPER: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS - A VALUABLE NEW BRANDING TOOL
THE STUDY
The study began with 'natural' exposure. Using a site
turner, the respondent is shown six web pages and
chooses which one to see, where to click and where
to scroll.
The effects were analysed by comparing the results
with those of the control group, which had not seen
any of the Lassie concepts.
In addition to this evaluation, the pre-rolls were
compared with MetrixLab’s online ad benchmarking
database, an international database containing the
findings of dozens of online campaigns. The study
also used heat maps (based on Adrime technology)
and focus tracking (Metrixlab) in order to analyse
how much attention the concepts were able to
attract and retain. Attention is an essential
prerequisite for being able to achieve the desired
effect.
Finally, for this report, the actual click reports from
the live campaign were examined.
CONCLUSION 1: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS
INCREASE AWARENESS
Previous research by Metrixlab showed that the use
of online video branding strengthened the effect of
a television campaign. It’s clear that pre-rolls
contribute to brand awareness but is the same true
for interactive pre-rolls?
Increased top of mind and spontaneous brand
awareness: After exposure to the campaigns, it was
clear that interactive pre-rolls had an effect on
brand awareness. In particular, Lassie’s top-of-mind
position was greatly improved compared to that of
the control group (see Figure 1).
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The Little Bowl, Little Bowl campaign had the most
improved top-of-mind position but the Magic Pan
also scored high. The same was true for spontane-
ous brand awareness but to a slightly lesser extent,
although it was also higher. Overall, the brand
preference improved most on the Magic Pan
concept.
Figure 1: top of mind awareness for Lassie
after exposure:
Ad reactions Index:
Lassie Little Bowl -
Now
140
Lassie Magic Pan - 122
Seen?
Control Group 100
No clear impact on brand value and purchase
intention: It was not clear whether the four
concepts contributed to improved brand valuation
or purchase intention. This was not unexpected,
as Lassie is already strong on these points and the
contribution of a one-off pre-roll to them is quite
small.
In a live campaign, the contact frequency is much
higher than in this study. The expectation is that, in
a live situation, there will be a stronger impact on
the brand, providing, of course, that the right
audience is reached.
That pre-rolls can have a positive impact on a brand
seems to be confirmed by this study. But what does
interaction add? The next step was to take a closer
look at the campaigns and to compare them with
MetrixLab’s benchmarks.
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CONCLUSION 2: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS CONCLUSION 3: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS

ATTRACT AND RETAIN ATTENTION ARE REMEMBERED
The study shows that interactive pre-rolls are very We now know that the interactive pre-roll concepts
effective in attracting attention. The so-called attract and retain attention, so the next question
‘Attention Index’ for the two interactive concepts is was whether they are also well remembered. The
almost three times higher than the benchmark for concepts seemed to score very well on this.
a 'normal' concept. We can conclude that interactive
pre-rolls are very good at holding the consumer’s With 92% and 85% spontaneous recall for Little
attention. They are also almost always watched Bowl, Little Bowl and the Magic Pan respectively,
until the end. both concepts scored far above the “overall display”
benchmark of 8%. The aided recall score is also
Figure 2: Ad recall index
almost four times higher.
Memory Index:
Spontaneous awareness:
Lassie Little Bowl - 471
Now Lassie Little Bowl -
Now
92%
Lassie Magic Pan - 436
Seen? Lassie Magic Pan - 85%
Seen?
Benchmark 300x250 100
Benchmark 300x250 8%
Norm top 20% 145
Norm top 20% 11%
The ad recall index is the average indices based on the
following four dimensions: spontaneous recall, aided recall,
recognition and campaign message memory. Aided awareness:

Two thirds of consumers indicated, however, that if

Lassie Little Bowl -
Now
87%
it were possible to click away pre-rolls, they would Lassie Magic Pan - 90%
do so. Our research showed the contrary: more than Seen?

three quarters either interacted with the pre-roll or Benchmark 300x250 27%
just kept watching it. The interactive pre-rolls are
therefore sufficient at retaining the consumer’s Norm top 20% 43%
attention.

If the subject interests you, would you like to be able to choose to see

CONCLUSION 4: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS

a longer version of the ad?

Male 31% 46% 15% 7% ARE APPRECIATED

Both of Lassie’s interactive pre-rolls were well
Female 32% 40% 17% 12%
appreciated by all age groups. In particular, the
Magic Pan campaign was strong on likeability and
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
distinctiveness but scored less on credibility and
Yes, definitely I don’t know relevance.

Yes, to some extent No, definitely not

 WHITE PAPER: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS - A VALUABLE NEW BRANDING TOOL
The youngest group of consumers saw the fun and
challenge of an interactive pre-roll. The older the
group of consumers, the less fun they thought that
the interaction in the banners was. Women
appreciated the interaction more than men.
The conversion figures show that 9% of consumers
actually played the Little Bowl, Little Bowl game
and 3% generated a recipe using the Magic Pan.
Almost 8% requested a recipe from the companion
ad.
Interactive pre-rolls attract more attention than
'passive' pre-rolls, are better remembered and more
highly appreciated. This can be explained by several
factors:
• The format is different and is therefore more striking
• They engage the consumer by demanding action;
interaction in a campaign is better remembered than a
passive campaign
• Consumers themselves choose if they want to extend the
interaction with the pre-roll. This leads to a greater
appreciation of the campaign
Does the video make the ad nicer?
Young 35% 35%
Middle 28% 44%
Old 16% 43%
0% 25% 50%
Yes, definitely I don’t know
Yes, to some extent No, definitely not
During an interactive video do you like to be able to click
without being taken to another website, for example to
determine what you see, to play a game or pull a lever?
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CONCLUSION 5: INTERACTIVE PRE-ROLLS
GET CLICKS
Together with research on the effects on the brand,
the click conversion of the banners was also
investigated. In the study, the interactive pre-rolls
were run with a companion ad. The click-through
rate measured is the sum of the total traffic sent to
Lassie.nl from both the pre-roll and the companion
ad. Again, the results for the interactive pre-roll are
positive.
The four concepts had the following results:
Clickrate (traffic to Lassie.nl)
Lassie Magic Pan 7,08%
Lassie Little Bowl 7,59%
Split roll 1,24%
Traditional
Lassie preroll 4%
17% 13% Interactive pre-roll click-through rates twice as
high: The click-through rates for interactive pre-rolls
are almost twice as high as the rate for
16% 12%
non-interactive pre-rolls. Combining the pre-roll
with a companion ad was important because these
25% 16% ads led directly to Lassie.nl.
75% 100% Offering the consumer the choice of which ads they
want to see scored relatively poorly. The split roll,
which enabled consumers to choose whether they
wanted to see Little Bowl, Little Bowl or the Magic
Pan at the start of the pre-roll, scored significantly
lower. In this study, consumers showed no desire to
choose their own pre-roll.
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES We are just discovering the many opportunities of

We have shown that interactive pre-rolls are a
valuable addition to the medium of online video.
They contribute to brand awareness, get more
attention, are better remembered, better valued
and achieve higher conversion rates.
Recommendations resulting from this research:
• Interactive pre-rolls can be used for various objectives.
They can be used to generate awareness as well as to
increase appreciation and conversion.
using interaction in online video. The results from
this first study are positive, but there are many
more ideas that need to be explored. Further
research will be needed to investigate the value of
stacking and extension for example. Lots more
opportunities are also to be found in other types of
interactive pre-rolls.
Online video is already huge but from an interactive
perspective, it can get much bigger. It’s time for
innovation! As Confucius said centuries ago:

• Measure the impact of your pre-roll on brand awareness,

preference and purchase intent. These, in addition to What I hear, I forget.
conversion, are also important parameters in determining What I see, I remember.
the success of an online campaign.
What I Do, I Understand.
• An interactive pre-roll allows a 15 second ad to be extended
at the request of the consumer and this creates a more
intense brand experience. SuperHeroes
Amsterdam, 11 februari 2010
• Always use a companion ad with your pre-roll in order to Susan Vugts
maximise conversion. Rogier Vijverberg

• Consider a skip function in your pre-roll. With creative and

relevant content, the consumer will be less inclined to use it.
Don’t show the skip function immediately; wait five seconds
to get a fair chance of pulling someone in.

• Develop creative pre-rolls that entertain, inform, challenge

and heavily involve the consumer. By only using shortened
TV commercials, you’ll miss too many chances.