Why Speed Matters

Here is an interesting article about how intolerant Internet users have become when it comes to waiting for a video to load - Study: Streaming Video Viewers Lose Patience After 2 Seconds.  Here are the key findings:

• Viewers begin to abandon a video if it hasn't loaded in 2 seconds
• If the video hasn't started within 5 seconds, 25% abandon the video
• If the video hasn't started within 10 seconds, 50% abandon the video
• Each additional second of delay resulted in a 5.8% increase in the abandonment rate
• 1/2 the people with high speed Internet access believe that 5 seconds is too long to wait for a video to load and play

What does this mean for HVAC companies and HVAC contractors?

Quite simple - you need to make sure that your website loads quickly.  Most HVAC contractors do not have websites with video, so you can expect that patience is probably even lower for the average website. 

This is especially critical for home owners on a mobile device.  If they are accessing your website through a mobile device, it is absolutely critical that your website is optimized for mobile browsing and mobile download.

Test out your website on your iPhone, iPad, Droid, Blackberry or other device.  How long did it take to load?  Was it easy to view all of the information?  Was it formatted for the device?

If the website took too long to load, if the information was to small to read or the page required scrolling, then it is not optimized for mobile devices.  If you have any doubts about the importance, please read our previous post 23 Eye-Opening Mobile Marketing Stats You Should Know.

If you need assistance obtaining a Mobile Optimized Website, we are here to help.

Brian Starzec | HVAC Business Solutions | January 14, 2013

Americans Spent 4.5B Minutes With Video Ads in May

Daniel Mickens | June 19, 2012 | ClickZ

Video ads have posted another record-breaking month in May, going over the 10 billion mark for the first time. ComScore reported Hulu was at the top of the list with over 1.6 billion video ads delivered. YouTube and Google sites followed with nearly 1.4 billion video ads. BrightRoll Video Network was the only other video ad property to break the billion mark with 1.1 billion video ads delivered.

ComScore includes only streaming-video advertising in its report, and does not measure other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.

Americans spent over 4.5 billion minutes watching video ads in May. Hulu led this category as well with 725 million minutes. BrightRoll Video Network and Adap.tv were the next two leading properties with 673 million and 556 million minutes, respectively.

Video ads reached 52 percent of the U.S. population an average of 64 times during the month of May. Hulu once again topped the category by delivering the highest frequency of video ads to their viewers with an average of 56. ESPN was second in the category with an average of 29 ads per viewer.

Despite being a leader in those three categories, Hulu ranked near the bottom of the list in reaching the U.S. population. Compared to the leaders in this category - BrightRoll Video Network (35.8 percent) and Specific Media (31.9 percent), Hulu reached just 10 percent of the population.

ComScore also released data from the comScore Video Metrix showing that over 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.6 billion content videos last month. YouTube, VEVO, and Yahoo Sites topped almost every category of the video content rankings.

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads Viewed, May 2012
Property	Video Ads (000)	Total Ad Minutes (MM)	Frequency (Ads per Viewer)	% Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet: Total Audience	10,076,499	4,517	63.6	51.7
Hulu	1,666,846	725	55.5	9.8
Google Sites	1,385,273	143	18.6	24.3
BrightRoll Video Network	1,130,983	673	10.3	35.8
Adap.tv	966,204	556	13.1	24.1
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform	896,787	259	17.4	16.8
Specific Media	751,542	359	7.7	31.9
Tremor Video	725,944	408	14.1	16.8
SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace	615,290	326	13.5	14.9
Auditude, Inc.	569,862	219	11.6	16.0
ESPN	490,103	169	28.6	5.6

Data provided by comScore Video Metrix.

Original Article...