The latest issue of Marketing magazine reports on a recent study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) which looked into the key factors that drive a successful online video advertising campaign.

The survey tested a variety of adverts across different market sectors, looking at 4 main ad attributes and 96 combinations to see how they impacted the key advertising and brand metrics. The four attributes tested were duration (15 v. 30 sec.); placement (pre-roll and post-roll); companion ad (with/without); and advertising type (original online v. repurposed TV).

In 2 of the 4 advertising and brand metrics that were measured, ad length was found to be the leading factor driving increased response - 30 second ads outpaced 15s plus ad relevance and brand consideration also improved with the longer adverts. As with the recent search advertising study, brand awareness or affinity was also a strong factor in driving better results, although positive responses to the video content also helped in cases where there was neutral or negative brand affinity.

The study also showed that static companion ads can play a valuable complimentary role in lifting brand awareness. The most popular video content categories were found to be news/current events (14 percent watch daily), weather (11 percent watch daily) and jokes /funny clips (9 percent watch daily).

Perhaps not surprisingly, the research concluded that online video advertising leads to concrete results, with 52 percent of viewers that watched a video ad online having taken some sort of resulting action. From those consumers who made a purchase in the previous month, 48% said that the Internet drove initial awareness, 55% used the Internet to decide where to buy and 56% made the final purchase decision using the Internet.