If you ever attempted to measure ad effectiveness, then you surely must have heard about the click-through rate (CTR) and view-through rate (VTR) metrics. Both are brilliant measures of the effectiveness of an ad, but what do these metrics really tell you about your ad’s performance? And more importantly, which metric should you focus on?

The choice of the right metric to measure your ad effectiveness is very much dependent on the objectives of your ad campaign. In today’s world, it is almost natural that advertisers try to get as many impressions as possible. However, impressions alone will not define the performance of your ad. As a brand manager, you must make sure to look at the complete picture.

Metrics such as CTR and VTR can help you come a long way, but before we examine how they work together, it’s important to understand how they are calculated.

CTR (click-through rate)

There’s a big chance your ad has a call-to-action or a link to your website. The CTR refers to the percentage of viewers that clicked on the call-to-action in your video. It can be found by dividing the number of clicks your ad receives by the number of times your ad is shown (total impressions).

Example: if 1000 people loaded your ad and 15 clicked on it, your CTR would be 1.5%

The CTR is an important metric because it gives you an idea of how well your ad is performing. The number of clicks in your ad is a good indicator of the appeal of your call-to-action. If you’re getting many impressions, but your ad isn’t driving any action, then you might have to consider revising your call-to-action.

VTR (view-through rate)

The VTR refers to the percentage of people that watched your ad from beginning to end. It can be found by dividing the number of completed views of your ad by the number of times your ad is shown (total impressions).

For example: if 1000 people loaded your ad and 210 watched it till the end, your VTR would be 21%.

Compared to the total impressions, the VTR is a more refined metric to measure your ad performance. The viewer’s willingness to watch your ad to the end is a good indicator of how interested they were. This metric is especially helpful when monitoring whether viewers are engaging with one video compared to another, or even on one platform vs. another. Use VTR to identify interested audiences, the strongest performing videos, and the correct platform.

Which metric should you focus on?

This is an easy one: both! Surely, in the end, it depends on the goals of your ad campaign. However, each of these metrics, in itself, can’t be used as a foolproof measure for your ad performance. CTR and VTR are related to each other, and very often the performance of one explains the performance of the other.

Generally, the goal of ads is to lead your viewers somewhere; telling them what to do. That is why in theory it makes sense to use the CTR as the main metric to track. The sooner the viewer clicks on your ad, the better. In addition, a high CTR would automatically mean a lower VTR: when users click on your ad, they don’t finish it. Obviously, this means it will not count as a completed view. This is all in favor of CTR being the main metric to optimize for. Yet, analyzing CTR only is not recommended. Ads have very low click-through rates in practice. Most of the time too low to provide enough relevant data to analyze your ad campaign.

As a secondary metric, the VTR can give you more detailed insights into your ad performance. It shows you who was interested beyond those who liked your ad enough to click on it. This data is especially useful when you’re running brand awareness campaigns. Use it to identify interested audiences and tweak your advertising campaigns in the future, so that you spend your money more effectively.