Effect of media context on avoidance of skippable pre-roll ads in online video platform: A mental accounting of time perspective

Based on Thaler’s mental accounting of time theory, this study analyzes how different media contexts influence users’ ad avoidance behaviors by analyzing actual log data from 82,757 observations on the largest online video platform in South Korea. We investigate whether the benefit and cost elements of watching content affect ad viewing time. To minimize the effect of ad length variations, we divide the pooled dataset into three subgroups: ads of 15 s, ads between 16 and 30 s, and ads longer than 30 s. The results indicate that content length, popularity, and information genre function as benefit factors and increase ad viewing time. In contrast, ad length decreases ad viewing time. This study contributes to the online video advertising literature by examining the effects of media context on ad avoidance behaviors and provides actionable guidelines for online video platforms and advertisers dealing with ad avoidance behaviors.