People Ditch Slow-Loading Videos After 2 Seconds

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A new study finds that people hate waiting more than 2 seconds for videos that take forever to load. The problem is even worse when you are forced to watch a 30 second advertisement first. ;)

Two seconds. That's when Internet users start ditching online videos if they're not loading properly, according to a new study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Akamai Technologies. By the 10-second mark, if the video still hasn't loaded, about 40% of Web users will have abandoned it.
 
Comprehension doesn't mean speed. Maybe he's just a really slow reader with excellent diction.
 
It only really takes that long to get a feel for the over all load time and if it will at least out pace the watch time/length of the video.
 
Interesting that the ads on YouTube never seem to be affected. They always play fine.
 
Two minutes? As in 120 seconds? I don't pay my cable company $200 a month to wait two minutes I assure you. You get 40 seconds at most.
 
Two minutes? As in 120 seconds? I don't pay my cable company $200 a month to wait two minutes I assure you. You get 40 seconds at most.
Article said 2 seconds. 40 seconds is already more patient than a large majority of internet users.
 
Ad Block Plus eliminates those ads on youtube...

It doesn't eliminate crappy loading of the actual video content.

I'm not surprised by the 2 seconds/40 seconds thing. If a video can't even start playing correctly before it has to buffer some more, I don't want to watch a 2-5 minute long video that ends up taking 10-20 minutes to watch because it's hosted on a slow site or some other problem keeping it from streaming/buffering correctly.
 
Ad Block Plus eliminates those ads on youtube...

I remember when Ad block plus launched, they said they would operate a "White list" of sites etc that wouldn't block ad's on those sites etc if they received "Donations" from those companies

Then people called them out on their bullshit, now they operate completely free to use software, done by people working for free and supplying for free, and you can block ads on any site

Admittedly the only sites I don't block ads on is Here, Guru3D, Hardware Canucks and Semi-accurate, because the ad's never have obscured my view of content, nor have they ever had ad's that made pop-up's or played FMV loud annoying ad's.
 
Ad Block Plus eliminates those ads on youtube...
And Comedy Central, and Crackle, and...

I don't know how many times I've told people about ABP and they still don't use it. I guess they must really like complaining about having to watch ads.
 
For some reason Youtube is always DEAD slow for me in the evenings lately. Trying to watch any HD video you might as well forget it.

My speeds are ok, 25'ish mbps at the time, just youtube doesn't wanna load videos it seems.
 
Interesting that the ads on YouTube never seem to be affected. They always play fine.

Yes, funny how that works. I was going to post the same thing.

Personally, I would guess I wait closer to about 5 seconds on a video before I move on. If I have to sit through a 30 second ad to see a 20 second vid I just say FU and move on. Needs to be at least a 3 to 1 ratio of content to ad or I won't watch. Unless perhaps Kate Beckinsale is in it or something.
 
I do this too. I hate buffering. I have a 25mbps down connection, I am not going to wait around and watch it with buffering every 30 seconds.
 
Yep. If I'm linked by someone to check it out and it doesn't load within 10 seconds , I skip it.

I pay for a very fast connection through FiOS out my ass on a monthly basis. I can watch many videos on Youtube flawlessly fast but once in a while and only for certain videos .. it just slows to a crawl and I don't feel like waiting for it.

If I really wanna watch it and its extremely slow on the DL , I'll use my Youtube downloader to grab it.
 
I agree with this and do the same with websites. If they don't start loading PDQ, I dump 'em unless it's a site I really have to go to.
 
Thanks INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS research for telling everyone what everyone already knew!
 
It's strange with Youtube. Sometimes, videos will play great in HD, at other times, even 360p causes problems. Basically if I video keeps buffering for more than a second in the beginning, I know that I'm going to have a terrible experience and just give up (or download the video if I *really* want to watch it).
 
Youtube is the worst offender. I find their 1080p videos unwatchable because of this. You basically have to let it buffer for five mins.

And its not on MY end, as I have a 24 Mbps downstream.
 
I wonder if the 2 seconds is a "learned" response. I believe if it doesn't load immediately there is a much much higher likelihood that its not gonna load at all. Like waiting for a bus that isn't coming, just move on.
 
To date, I dont think I have ever watched a video that had an advertisement first. If one appears, I snap close the window and just find whatever I was looking for elsewhere.
 
Youtube is the worst offender. I find their 1080p videos unwatchable because of this. You basically have to let it buffer for five mins.

And its not on MY end, as I have a 24 Mbps downstream.

Well it IS on your end, because I also have 25mbps fiber and never have this problem, unless perhaps it is some obscure video with low volume.
 
2 seconds is short. I give it a bit more than that but not much.

It has been stated already why. If it can't play right in the first few seconds you will be constantly stopped so it can buffer for the rest of the video making it a PITA and not worth watching.
 
Ad Block Plus eliminates those ads on youtube...

You get banned here just for mentioning that.

On topic: I don't watch the ads unless its a video I really want to see, then I just mute the sound. If a video is stuttering or taking a long time to load, I just pause it and let it queue up and come back,
 
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