Video Abandonment - How Quickly Are Viewers Clicking Away From Your Content?

How many of us click away from videos while they're still playing? The practice is called video abandonment and according to recent research by Visible Measures, more than 20% of us click away within the first 10 seconds of a video. At 90 seconds more than half of all viewers have moved on.

They also cited a popular beer ad which had a 40% abandonment rate within the first 10 seconds - far above the norm. However, when the "narrative punchline" of the ad was revealed around the 12 second mark, the ad stabilized and outperformed other online video benchmarks. The chart below shows the timeline and abandonment percentages.

For the vast majority of people posting videos online these numbers will mean little. But for advertisers, filmmakers and others looking to see some return on their video investment, these numbers can help us craft short-form video content that improves performance by better understanding online audience viewing habits.

The key points to take away from this are:
1] Be prepared for at least half of online viewers to abandon your video before it finishes
2] Think hard about the first 10 seconds
3] Accelerate dramatic (narrative) momentum through the entire video


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