Stunning Revelation: Mobile Ads Should Be Short

Here’s a shocker. According to a report from IDC, if you’re going to do a “preroll” video ad that plays before the content a cell phone viewer selects, make sure it’s not too long. Otherwise you risk losing the viewer before the actual content even gets started.

The reason? Cell phone viewers aren’t generally a captive audience, the way they might be if they’re tuning into the latest episode of, say, Lost on regular television. The IDC report found that the limit is somewhere between 8 and 10 seconds.

IDC Says Don’t Underestimate Full Potential of Mobile Marketing (IDC via MocoNews)

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.