The Fifth Network's director of marketing explains that OPA's recent announcement on video's most effective format confirms what we've all known.

Recently, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) mentioned that, as part of a study on online video advertising and consumer behavior, they'd found that 30-second internet video ads outperform 15-second internet video ads. This finding was hailed by many as "big news." This part of the study presented extremely attractive data to publishers and advertisers and was seized upon for a variety of reasons, most notably because, rather than basing performance on clicks (online advertising's golden calf), the success of video was based on the truly valuable, cross-media metrics of Brand Awareness, Brand Favorability, Perceived Relevance and Brand Consideration.

The big news, though, is that this really isn't such big news.

The study's finding is steeped in common sense, backed by other current industry endeavors and reiterates two key advertising principles. Also, it does NOT say that 30-seconds pre-roll commercials belong in front of a few short minutes of video content. (Just ask a typical web user.)

First and foremost, the study says that video works extremely well and can have a significant effect on brand lift. This is an accepted truism by people working closely with online video, but nonetheless, it's always good to spread the message.

The second key principle is something we, the advertising industry, have known for quite a while. That is, with proper creative and intelligent targeting, increased ad exposure time leads to greater awareness, engagement and persuasion.

A quick history of exposure
If you've ever been stuck in traffic, you have probably noticed that someone had the good sense to stick a billboard right where you couldn't miss it, where the advertiser knew you would be exposed to their message every second that you slowly crawled forward, inch by inch. That high level of visibility and length of exposure came at a premium to the advertiser and was priced accordingly based on research by the billboard folks.

The longer your eyeballs are exposed to a message, the more readily available that ad will be in your memory. Breaking through the clutter and getting noticed is step one in changing and solidifying someone's attitude.

On television, 30-second ads have long been the accepted standard, and while :15, :10 and :5 second spots have been on the rise for over a decade (often because of their lower price tag), studies over the last 40 years still identify the brand benefits of longer ads.

Also, from a quick survey of creative executives, the prevailing theory is still that "when you've got a good story to tell, take the time to tell it … the consumer will remember."

The changing tide of industry measurement
With respect to the online advertising industry at large, the study's findings about the positive effect of ad length on brand lift speaks volumes about Nielsen's current measurement initiatives.

In an effort to find a more meaningful measurement of website traffic, Nielsen recently started to move away from page views as a ranking standard. Instead, they began grading publishers by their users' total time spent on site and average number of minutes on site per user session.

While to date the internet has been known for its immediate access to direct response results, this move by Nielsen, and the supporting data by the OPA study, underscores a major shift in how all parties will soon come to understand the benefits of increased online exposure. 

In the near future it will be readily accepted that given enough access to their audiences' time, advertisers can successfully steer users down the brand continuum from awareness to message association, then to brand favorability and finally to purchase consideration.

Media planners, get ready to start targeting where your audience is putting their attention.

Attention-targeting
Video ads capture greater awareness, and when combined with useful and/or entertaining interactive functionalities, the creative becomes ripe for multi-metric success.

According to studies by Dynamic Logic, video ads (be they in-banner or in-stream), work harder for clients and get better results with less frequency than other static types of ads.

Now, with the intelligent tracking of where users are spending more time online, and with the introduction of attention-targeting solutions, advertisers can strategically place ads where they will get increased face-time with their users and thereby gleam the benefits of increased brand exposure.

In conclusion…from the beginning
When Unga the caveman advertised his new "round-rock-with-hole-in-middle," he touted how it could increase productivity by 60 percent and lessen lower-back pain by writing about it on the caves his audience lived in and by speaking about it in the fields where they worked. Day-in and day-out primitive man was exposed to the message, and after the fervor about Kleg the caveman's "fire" settled down, the wheel became the hottest commodity before sliced bread.

The OPA's finding that ad length is directly correlated to brand lift is not an astonishing revelation akin to the wheel, fire or the iPhone. Rather, it serves as an eye-opening lesson that the internet, like all of the preceding mass media before it, can deliver messages to users that over time, with targeted exposure levels, can sculpt and change the attitudes and beliefs of the audience.

And this, while perhaps not "big," is definitely good news for the industry.

Bradley Werner is the director of marketing for The Fifth Network. Read full bio.