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Attest has published research suggesting that most non-skippable video adverts in the UK and US are not watched as intended, challenging assumptions commonly used in media planning.
Its survey of 1,000 UK adults and 1,000 US adults found that only 35% of Britons and 44% of Americans said they watched a non-skippable advert as intended. The rest said they looked away, muted the advert or stopped watching.
In the UK, 65% of respondents said they did not fully watch forced-view adverts. In the US, the equivalent figure was 56%.
The data highlights a gap between ad delivery and actual attention, a distinction that has become more important as brands face pressure to justify media spending. Attest argued that assumptions about ad avoidance, screen behaviour and platform habits no longer reflect how audiences consume digital media.
Ad attention
Among US respondents, 34% said they looked elsewhere when they could not skip an advert, 17% said they muted it and 3% said they stopped watching altogether. In Britain, disengagement was higher overall, though Attest did not provide the same breakdown in its summary.
The research also found resistance to AI-generated advertising among younger consumers. A third of Gen Z respondents in both markets said they disliked AI adverts, suggesting novelty alone does not secure attention.
The findings also challenge the idea that audiences now prefer only short clips. Attest found that 66% of Americans and 59% of Britons regularly watch YouTube videos longer than 15 minutes.
TikTok, a platform strongly associated with short-form video, also showed notable long-form use. Some 39% of Americans and 34% of Britons said they regularly watch videos on TikTok lasting more than 15 minutes.
Facebook and Instagram also recorded long-form viewing, with 53% of US respondents and 43% of UK respondents saying they regularly watch longer videos on those platforms. This suggests the expansion of video length across creator platforms reflects actual user behaviour rather than platform experimentation alone.
Smartphones remain the main device for this viewing. Some 57% of Americans and 50% of Britons use smartphones for long-form video, indicating that longer watch times are not limited to televisions or laptops.
Platform habits
The survey found that YouTube, rather than TikTok, is the platform users in both markets most commonly describe as the one they feel most "addicted" to. In the US, 49% chose YouTube, compared with 30% for TikTok.
In the UK, 39% selected YouTube, against 32% for TikTok. Facebook ranked close behind YouTube in both countries, underlining that older social platforms still command regular attention despite years of focus on newer apps.
Traditional television also appears to receive only partial attention from many viewers. Around one in eight respondents said they give TV their undivided attention without doing anything else at the same time.
Most viewers said they use a second screen while watching. Scrolling social media was the most common parallel activity, cited by 46% of US respondents and 43% of UK respondents.
Ad tiers
The report also suggests that ad-supported streaming is now mainstream across income groups. Some 92% of Americans and 94% of Britons use at least one ad-supported streaming platform.
That trend extends to higher-income households in the UK. Use of the ad-supported tiers of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video was highest among people earning GBP £50,000 to GBP £99,999, at 53% and 50% respectively.
Among UK households earning more than GBP £100,000, half still used ad-supported YouTube. Disney+ with advertising was the most widely used service in that income group, with 41% saying they used it.
The findings run counter to a long-held assumption in parts of the advertising market that premium audiences are less available through ad-funded services because they are more likely to pay to avoid advertising. Instead, the survey indicates that wealthier households remain accessible on those tiers, especially as streaming providers expand lower-cost options.
Attest said the research was based on nationally representative samples, supported by five years of quarterly tracking in both markets and a smaller qualitative study in each country.
"The advertising industry is still built on assumptions this data doesn't support. Non-skippable doesn't mean watched, especially in the UK, so brands should be measuring completion and recall, not just buying the format and assuming a forced view is a guaranteed one. And don't write premium households out of ad-supported plans: the wealthiest audiences are often more reachable than average, not less. Brands still buying against the old assumptions are leaving real attention, and real budget, on the table," said Todd Latham, Chief Executive Officer of Attest.