L-Shape advertising for mobile video streaming services: Less intrusive while still effective

Advertising is significant in video streaming services on mobile devices, as well as in other e-business services. Advertisement providers pay part or the entire service cost; hence, users enjoy services at a low price or free of charge. However, users perceive advertisements as clutter and avoid them. To reduce advertising avoidance and enhance advertising efficiency, various methods, such as raising advertising relevance, seeking advertisement permission, or changing advertisement position, are suggested. This study introduces L-Shape advertising, a new strategy suitable for mobile video streaming services, as it is less distractive and effective. We demonstrate the superiority of L-Shape advertising compared to popular advertising formats such as skippable and non-skippable advertisements. The study empirically tests how the proposed strategy performs and examines users’ cognitive processes applying eye-tracking technology. We found that L-Shape advertising is less distractive but still effective.