Digital video ads struggle to register with users, study finds

New Delhi: R K Swamy Centre for Study of Indian Markets (CSIM) has released a white paper examining how advertising on digital video platforms is consumed and how it influences basic brand awareness and recall.

The study, titled Recall of Advertising on Digital Video Platforms & Channels, was conducted by Hansa Research, a wholly owned subsidiary of R K Swamy.

The research covered 3,000 respondents across ten cities, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Patna and Ludhiana, with participants aged 18–50 and evenly split across gender and income groups. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, and researchers checked respondents’ mobile devices to validate app usage and screen time.

The findings show that watching videos online has become the most common form of entertainment, with 93% of respondents using their mobile phones to view content for an average of 2.17 hours a day. Regional language video consumption exceeds English by a significant margin.

Despite high usage levels, the study reports weak brand recall. On average, respondents remembered only 1.5 brands. Of the more than 600 brands mentioned, just 11 were recalled by 3% or more of those surveyed, mostly online or gaming platforms.

S Narasimhan, EVP and Chief Digital Officer at R K Swamy, said, “Many respondents had difficulty in remembering and accurately identifying brands. Very few were able to recall specific details of the creative content itself. In the light of major expenditure in Digital Video platforms, this was a disappointment.”

Praveen Nijhara, CEO of Hansa Research Group, said, “While YouTube was highly viewed, the recall of brands on the medium was poor. So was the case with Facebook and Instagram. A significant majority of the respondents report skipping ads and muting them.”

The study also finds that videos circulated through WhatsApp were the most viewed and shared, pointing to the strength of peer-to-peer distribution.

R K Swamy is continuing the study on a monthly basis, and the white paper is available for download on its website.