December 2020

The unforeseen upheaval of 2020 has been hard on all industries, but colleges and higher education institutions have taken a particularly rough hit since social distancing and stay-at-home mandates went into place. Without the opportunity to make personal connections, foot traffic has greatly decreased on campus, while many prospective students are now hesitant to enroll in any higher learning programs due to economic uncertainties. With so many unknowns still up in the air, educational institutions have been forced to shift their marketing strategies and re-evaluate their advertising message.

How long do advertisers have to make an impression when they engage an audience online? Not as long as you might think. Marketers typically assume people will watch all of their 15 or 30 second spots or all of their rotating banner ads. But when looking at the data, it seems that’s not always the case. In fact, it rarely ever is. The IAB Digital Video Glossary says a video ad is considered “viewable” if at least 50% of the ad is viewed for two consecutive seconds.