When Is the Prime Ad Time for Brands?

According to video marketing company TubeMogul in their Quarterly Research Report, the best time for brands to serve ads to maximize performance is during the evening hours, 8 PM to midnight.  That means that the time people are normally watching prime time TV is the exact time that they watch online video.  Everything increases: brand recall, brand favorability, and even purchase intent to a slight degree.  But even though the time period between 8 PM and midnight is the best, there are a couple of other time periods where ads can shine.  Let's take a look.

TubeMogul's Report: Prime Time Rules

Viewers who watch an ad between 8 and midnight are 6.6% more likely to remember the brand than people who don't see an ad, which is up from 2.1% during the day.  Brand favorability rises from 2.1% to 6.9%, and purchase intent increases slightly from 1.7% to 1.9%.  Handy graph:

TubeMogul has numbers for how much engagement ads receive during certain times of the day, with "lunchtime" (1.4%) and prime time (1.3%) hours being the best:

Pre-roll impressions do well after noon, hitting their peaks in the 8 PM-midnight range (17.4%), but overall noon-to-midnight is well more than half of the overall impressions during the day.  That really should be much of a surprise.  Impressions absolutely peak at 11 PM, accounting for 4.5% of the entire day's views:

This is good to know for those spending ad dollars looking for the best performance.  Timing is essential in order to maximize the number of eyeballs that might watch an ad.  Considering the small percentages you have to work with, maximizing potential is key.