Video advertising, a widely used online advertising format, has become the major source of revenue for video-viewing websites. However, video ads often interrupt users' video viewing experience, leading to increased annoyance and even negative attitudes towards the advertising brands. In view of the lack of research on the effectiveness of video advertising design and online users' interaction with ads in particular, the current research investigates the effects of users' skipping control over video ads on their attention to and memory of the ads content, as well as their brand attitudes. Furthermore, the moderating role of users' online information task type (i.e., searching versus browsing) is also examined. Drawing on information control and online information task literature, it is proposed that for information browsers, providing skipping control over video ads will lead to increased memory of the ads content and enhanced brand attitudes, whereas the reverse will happen for information searchers.
A 2 (ads control:skippable vs. non-skippable)×2 (task:searching vs. browsing) laboratory experiment is conducted to test the hypotheses. Video viewing platforms with different advertising skipping control are created, and 90 college student participants are randomly assigned to one of the experimental groups. Both questionnaire and eye-tracking data are collected from the participants. The experimental results largely confirm the hypotheses. This research contributes to the literature of online advertising design and effectiveness, and provides practical guidance in terms of how to improve video ads effectiveness through designing for user interactions.
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