Successful advertising means not only knowing what your viewers want and delivering it, but it also means knowing *how* they react to ads and how you can maximize the effect an ad has on their buying habits.
ClickZ has a graph and a great article on the 5 Second Ad, but more than just that ad model, the article focuses on how "consumer tolerance for ads lasts five to seven seconds then immediately turns to annoyance".
With studies that show DVR/TiVO users tend to fast forward through commercials and only see the last 5 seconds of an ad, the 5 second ad (and the last ad in a set) is becoming more valuable.
Is it possible that we could deliver these ads and still offer the same value to our clients. Could a 5 second ad be as effective as a 30 second ad? The research above leads us to think that possibly the 5 second ad may have a larger positive impact, due to the annoyance factor with the longer ad. The major problem is whether you could sell ad space that is only 5 seconds alongside that which is 30 seconds and still expect similar pricing. I don't think you'll find one client that will get on board with that at this stage. Of course, you could lower the pricing of the 5 second ad, but cutting into revenues like that will never go over at the networks. This may be a time for online publishers to chart a course.
More research on the effectiveness of the 5 second ad needs to be done. If we can show there is a higher instance of conversion or brand appreciation with the shorter ad, the pricing may just take care of itself. Fighting the networks as they face the temptation to simply sell a dozen 5 second ads is another issue altogether.
