What is a View-Through Rate (VTR)?
View-through rate (VTR) is a metric in digital advertising that relates to video advertisements. It tells an advertiser how often users have viewed their video ad to completion. VTRs are typically used in conjunction with other key metrics, such as conversion rate and bounce rate, to assess the performance of video ads.
Why are view-through rates important?
View-through rates are important because they give advertisers a critical insight into the engagement their video ads are generating. By showing how often viewers watch a video ad to completion, VTRs help advertisers determine how effectively their content is capturing the attention of their target audiences.
View-through rates are also important for helping brands understand what has been communicated to their audience. With popular video-sharing platforms providing ad skip functions, it’s common for users to skip ads at varying points during an ad. By using the VTR metrics, advertisers can understand what portion of their audience has received the full intended message of the content and reached any calls to action (CTA) they may have included.
By providing these vital insights, VTRs help advertisers make better decisions about their ad format, ad content, targeting criteria, and which publishers to work with. As such, they can optimize their ad spending and maximize their return on investment (ROI).
How are view-through rates calculated and what is a good VTR?
View-through rates express complete views as a percentage of total impressions. For example, if a video ad is served to users 1,000 times and 100 people watch the video until the end, the VTR for that ad would be 10%.
What constitutes a good VTR can vary. As a rule of thumb, 15% is generally considered a solid workable number for in-stream ads on video-sharing platforms. However, what equates to a good VTR for an ad will depend on a variety of factors, including the length of the ad, the platform it is served on, the intended audience, the industry of the advertiser, and much more, so benchmarking is essential.
In some cases, however, an ad with a VTR of an ad with a higher VTR might perform poorly, while below 15% can perform well if it is generating the kind of engagement and conversions that the advertiser is looking for. Ultimately, VTR is one data point that can tell advertisers about one aspect of performance, but to truly understand if an ad has been successful, it needs to be incorporated with other metrics in the context of the advertiser’s specific goals.
What is the difference between a VTR and a CTR?
Video-through rates (VTRs) and click-through rates (CTRs) are related in that they both provide insight into the performance of video ads, but there is an important distinction to be drawn between them.
While a VTR denotes the percentage of total impressions that resulted in complete views, it does not track what happens beyond that. As such, it can be considered a metric for brand exposure and passive engagement. A CTR, on the other hand, indicates how often viewers click on an ad once they’ve viewed it. In this way, CTRs provide more insight into active engagement, user activity, and intent.
Ideally, VTRs and CTRs should be used together to help provide a full picture of ad performance and user interaction.