OPTIMIZING TIMING OF DISPLAY OF A MID-ROLL VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT BASED ON VIEWER RETENTION DATA

The timing for displaying a mid-roll advertisement during a video is determined based on analysis of viewer retention data for the video. In an aspect, a system is provided that includes a reception component configured to receive viewer retention information for a video, the viewer retention information indentifying amounts of viewers that have watched respective frames of the video, an identification component configured to identify high interest segments of the video based on analysis of the viewer retention information, wherein the high interest segments are associated with relatively higher viewer interest over other segments of the video. The system further includes an advertisement component configured to select a point to insert a mid-roll advertisement during playback of the video at or near at least one of the high interest segments.