News media spotlight Kim’s findings on why micro ads, commercials that are 10 seconds or less, deliver costs savings and strong performance in today’s shifting landscape.
November 08, 2025
By TCU Neeley School of Business
As audiences grow increasingly selective about the content they consume and the time they’re willing to spend consuming it, advertisers are rethinking how to capture attention. New research from Philip Kim, assistant professor of marketing at the TCU Neeley School of Business, offers timely insight into this shift. He co-authored an article, “The impact of ad length on ad effectiveness: Do micro ads work?”, that was accepted in the Journal of Marketing. The research explores how shorter, highly targeted micro ads perform in a rapidly changing media environment.
Kim was recently featured on two major news outlets - WFAA/ABC (Channel 8) in Dallas &ndash ;Fort Worth and FOX 26 Houston – where he described the research findings and how it applies to the public interest. He detailed how short-form video platforms are gaining traction and why ads no longer than 10 seconds often drive stronger engagement than traditional commercial formats.
The media coverage underscores the growing industry relevance of Kim’s insights. In a segment aired on WFAA–TV, Kim explained how platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have conditioned viewers to make rapid, selective decisions about what content earns their attention. Micro ads, he noted, succeed because they deliver a clear message before audiences scroll away.
Kim’s research was also featured in a FOX 26 Houston story highlighting the research collaborators’ analysis of more than 50,000 advertisements. The study found that micro ads can generate more web traffic, deliver similar sales impact and significantly reduce production costs compared with longer ads. He emphasized that consumers are not losing attention span overall. They are becoming increasingly selective.
“We’re not seeing shorter attention spans,” Kim said in the FOX 26 interview. “We’re seeing selective attention. Micro ads perform well because they communicate the message quickly, before attention shifts.”
The FOX 26 story also explored Kim’s perspective on how advancing artificial intelligence will accelerate the rise of micro-ad formats, enabling companies to produce tailored, high-volume ad content more efficiently.
Research Abstract
As media viewers shift expectations toward content and ads, advertisers are increasingly exploring micro ads. Yet, limited research has examined micro ads, especially on TV. This research uses a multimethod approach to investigate micro ad effectiveness on behavioral outcomes and, more broadly, provide insights into the relationship between ad length and ad effectiveness in the current media landscape. Analyzing observational data on retailers’ TV advertising, web traffic, and online sales, the authors find that micro ads spur more immediate web traffic than longer ads. Micro and non-micro ads exhibit similar direct impacts on online sales, but micro ads can indirectly increase online sales more by driving increased traffic. Results from a field experiment using social media ads corroborate these findings, showing that micro ads outperform non-micro ads in driving web traffic and social media engagement. The analyses suggest that viewer impatience for longer ads may be a plausible mechanism that explains why micro ads see increased effectiveness. The findings offer timely insights for advertisers and ad platforms seeking economical, attractive ad inventory.
