BCN Video Study 2025

Acceptance, trust, brand recall, and activation potential

Simple & efficient

These are the key factors used to measure the success of video advertising. The current BCN Video Study 2025 examines the media environment’s influence on video ad performance.

"Video advertising on websites belonging to established media brands is not only well-received and positively rated – it also motivates people to make purchases. This is a strong argument in favor of ad placements in our high-quality environments."

Susanne Müller, Executive Director BCN

Websites of an established media brand
(e.g. focus.de, chip.de, elle.de, mein-schoener-garten.de)

Social networks
(e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)

Journalistic quality beats social media

Trust

Before the study goes into (advertising) detail, it establishes a basis for evaluating online content. The result: Trust in online videos from established media brands (such as focus.de, chip.de, elle.de, mein-schoener-garten.de) is very high: 76% of respondents trust the videos on these websites significantly more than content on social networks (3%). The videos are mainly viewed at home (95%) and mostly in the evening hours (75%).

Not a nuisance: High advertising acceptance in media brands

High acceptance

According to the study, whether or not video advertising is perceived as annoying also depends heavily on the environment. In a platform comparison, video advertising is least likely to be perceived as annoying (48%) on the websites of established media brands. In contrast, video ads are most annoying on media libraries, streaming services of private TV stations, and streaming platforms such as Netflix.

One ad per video is most popular

Brand image

More isn’t always better: If only one video ad is played per post, users perceive this as particularly fair (70%) and pleasant (69%). Because the ratio of advertising to content remains consistent and the environment does not feel overloaded. Accordingly, two-thirds of respondents prefer websites that only use one ad per video. Around 60% perceive the advertised brand more positively in this environment and recall the ad better. For this reason, BCN relies on one advertisement per video content, thus maximizing impact for advertisers.

Established media encourage purchases

Activation

One in three people have purchased at least one product after viewing a video ad on an established media-brand website. Given that traditional performance metrics such as CTRs are usually in the low percentage range, this figure impressively underscores the high activation potential of video advertising in trusted media environments.

Conclusion

Advertising in the trusted environment of established media brands combines high user acceptance with a strong impact on brand perception and advertising recall – and actively translates this into purchasing decisions.

Method and demographics: For the BCN Video Study 2025, 1,622 individuals who use media products marketed by BCN were surveyed at the beginning of August.

How video advertising works:
Ads perform best in
established media