Videos most of the audience leaves before the end

A video that loses most of its audience before the end never delivers its last part, which is usually the offer, the logo or the call to action. The campaign pays for views of a message that is not heard.

Industry benchmarks for completion vary too much by format, length, country and placement to mean anything. The campaign's own drop-off is a fairer test.

The check reads every campaign with video quartile data over recent weeks: the share of impressions watched to 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.

Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.

When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.

1. In Google Ads, open Campaigns and filter to Video campaigns, for the last 30 days.
2. Add the columns Video played to 25% and Video played to 100%.
3. Divide the 100% figure by the 25% figure for each campaign.
4. Note the campaigns where too few reach the end.

Move the message forward. Put the brand and the main point in the first five seconds, and the offer before the halfway mark.

Try a shorter cut of the same video. If people leave at a given moment, that moment is the place to edit.

• Engaged-view conversion
• Video campaign
• YouTube ads

The checks next to this one in Ads and creative, each with its own page.

• Videos Google made and ran under your name
• Search campaigns showing fewer sitelinks than Google can use
• Responsive search ads Google rates below Good
• Pinning that fixes an ad slot to one asset
• Free space in the result, unused
• Every video the same length, doing the same job