Six-second ads are as persuasive as 15-second ads to drive purchase intent, study says

Shorter video ads have often been leveraged to drive brand awareness at the top of the purchase funnel but a recent study by Interpublic’s Magna and IPG Media Lab and Snap Inc. revealed that :06 second ads can be as effective as :15 second ads in terms of purchase intent as well as brand preference. 

According to the study, a six-second ad can drive brand preference by 9% and purchase intent by 5%, similar to the respective 10% and 4% gains for a 15-second ad in tests that controlled for the brand. While the six-second ads generate almost equal awareness with 15-second ads, :15 ads run the risk of feeling intrusive, the study says. 

The performance of ad length was consistent among different viewing devices, such as smartphones or computers, and among age groups, according to the study. 

On Snapchat, 15-second ads benefited from far less low skipping, allowing them to be more memorable. However, :06 ads were able to quickly get their point across to maximize persuasion. Regardless of length, the full screen vertical ads on Snapchat drove more than 2x the lift in awareness than the other platforms tested.

“This research confirms our hypothesis that upper and lower funnel impact can be achieved in mere seconds via video ads,” said Snap’s VP of Global Agency Partnerships, David Roter. “We were thrilled to validate that Snap’s fullscreen, vertical, immersive video format delivers full funnel efficacy for advertisers.”