Video ads are increasingly popular in digital marketing, but advertisers are unsure about how much they improve performance over static ads and which consumer response, such as unmuting or watching through the end, matters most. Using data from the online retail site Amazon.com, we apply causal inference methods to both a monthlong and yearlong time horizon and find support for our hypotheses. First, brands that invested in Sponsored Brands video (SBv) ads in addition to sponsored ads static ads had a 25% higher click-through rate (CTR) and 10% higher year-over-year sales growth. Second, individual consumer CTR depends on ad format (video vs. static), unmuting, and time watched. For audiences in 15 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, we find a 17.7 times higher CTR on SBv versus static images, especially for unmuted versus muted SBv. Furthermore, the muted consumer CTR increases with the viewed video length, with a substantial increase at a viewed video length longer than 5 s. Surprisingly, the unmuted CTR remains over 3 times that of muted CTR at all viewed video lengths, showing only a CTR uptick when the video was completed. Thus, if the ad is not watched with sound for its full length (the best-case scenario), advertisers should strive for video ads that (1) are unmuted, even for a short time, or (2) play at least 5 s on mute.

视频广告在数字营销中越来越受欢迎，但广告商不确定视频广告相对于静态广告的效果能提高多少，以及消费者的哪种反应（例如取消静音或看完最后）最重要。使用来自在线零售网站 Amazon.com 的数据，我们将因果推理方法应用于一个月和一年的时间范围，并找到对我们假设的支持。首先，除了静态赞助广告外，还投资了品牌推广视频(SBv) 广告的品牌广告的点击率 (CTR) 提高了 25%，销售额同比增长了 10%。其次，个人消费者的点击率取决于广告格式（视频与静态）、取消静音和观看时间。对于北美、欧洲、中东、亚洲和澳大利亚 15 个国家/地区的观众，我们发现 SBv 的点击率比静态图像高 17.7 倍，尤其是未静音的 SBv 与静音的 SBv。此外，静音消费者点击率随着观看视频长度的增加而增加，在观看视频长度超过 5 秒时大幅增加。令人惊讶的是，未静音的 CTR 仍然是静音 CTR 的 3 倍以上观看的视频长度，仅显示视频完成后点击率有所上升。因此，如果广告没有完整播放有声（最好的情况），广告商应争取 (1) 未静音（即使是很短的时间）或 (2) 播放至少 5 秒的视频广告静音。