Advertising – The Digital Dimension
Marlboro Man, Dancing Nirma Girl, Raymonds, Tiger Woods, colorful newspaper half pages, these all evoke our advertising image. Advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, Dejavu, Lintas and their creative directors were the kings that could make or break a brand. They still largely do, but the rules of the game have changed.
The evolution
In its infancy, Rich Media ads were in experimental mode while the industry was still grappling with a common standard and required very specific programming skill to support an ad. Due to the size of the media files and complex programming, websites were skeptical about hosting them, minus performance drags and slow dial-up connections make adoption even more difficult.
But as this baby grew, rich media ads became more of a fixture in the web ecosystem. Although standardization still has a long way to go, the basic formats and technology have become mainstream. “Rich Media” online advertising had come of age and the fact was that it got attention.’
In the blink of an eye, major advertisers, investing nearly $60 billion in the TV advertising segment, began to take notice of the phenomenon of online advertising. Every industry insider knew the potential of this Cadillac’ of the dialog-based, interactive world of advertising.
Rich Media The advertising catalyst
Pay-per-click, Pre-roll, Post-roll, Inline, Scroll sounds like retail lingo, but in fact, they are the kind of online video advertising. A soft advertising campaign can be launched with a smart idea, a good network, the use of Web 2.0 tools like blogs, bulletin boards, social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.), video and audio podcasts, and a online video ad strategy. companies like AdBrite, Brightcove, Motive Interactive, b5Media, etc.
Rich media has transformed web advertising into an artistic science with unfathomable possibilities. Video, audio, interactive features, in-game ads, enabled metrics, and thought-provoking concepts. As rich media advertising expands its horizon and reach, the new generation of advertisers is facing challenges of a different kind, which many may call the problem of abundance.
* How to measure audience engagement and brand impact
* What are the right metrics for a particular audience age group? for example, ad engagement time, ad display time on the page, various levels of user engagement, message association and purchase intent, etc.
* What is the right technology in the Rich Media domain?
* How much exposure for an ad is optimal for the greatest impact? Be careful with the Annoyance factor
Why the Change?
There has been an increase in the internet video ad segment from $500 million to $4 billion (quarterly revenue) between 1997 and 2007. This graph is getting steeper due to the following reasons
* Online advertisers are increasing exponentially (includes agencies, startups, content creators)
* Spending money online is becoming safer and easier
* Presence of high-quality Internet television channels and content aggregation, which are converting television audiences into broadcasters. Advertisers can reach a comparable audience size on the Internet compared to television.
* Change of audience from print and audio media (radio) to the Internet
* Anywhere, Anywhere, Anytime Content Demand Internet-based television is the right platform and advertisers are lining up to be a part of this revolution.
Digital Ad Species Consumers are 8 percent more likely to view the full 15-second ad than 30-second ads. Video content generators can use any of the new ad placement strategies such as pay per click, pre-roll, post-roll to monetize their video content. Some of the current monetization methods are
Banner Ad: Includes an image, often placed at the top of the page.
Advertising on Blogs – Ads designed for positioning on Blog sites. The companies include federated media and blogads.
Contextual advertising: advertising directed to the content of a web page. Contextual ad programs include Google Adsense, Vibrant media, Kontera, and Tribal Fusion
Cost per action (CPA): advertising billed to the advertiser per user action (product purchase mortgage application). Examples are Amazon & Indeed.
Cost Per Click (CPC): Ads are billed on a pay-per-click basis. The web publisher earns revenue for every click the user makes on the ads. For example, Google AdSense
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM): Advertising (typically banner advertising) that is billed per thousand impressions, regardless of whether the ad is clicked by the user. Companies include DoubleClick, ValueClick, and many more.
Interstitial Ad: An ad that plays between page loads. Companies include Tribal Fusion, DoubleClick, and many more.
Contextual in-text advertising: The web page contains double underlined keywords. When the user hovers over this keyword, a text ad appears. When the user clicks on this ad, it takes him to the advertiser’s page. Companies include Vibrant Media, Kontera, Tribal Fusion
RSS Ad An advertisement included in RSS feeds. Companies include Feedster, Feedburner and Yahoo!
The best place for your advertising spots
Video viewing pattern is one of the focus areas for advertisers, but the dominant categories tend to fluctuate due to changing socioeconomic conditions. More than 62 percent of consumers are most likely to stream news clips, followed by movie trailers (38 percent) and music videos (36 percent) (for the first half of 2007). Therefore, consumers are streaming more news clips, UGC (user generated content), and sports clips compared to the dominant category in 2006: music videos.
Rules of the game made by consumers
“In an era where consumers control their media experiences, rich media delivers more valuable and engaging experiences than most standard online advertising. When executed well, rich media can exponentially outperform blocking blocks.” standard ads”.
The Internet technology landscape is defined by the citizens of the network. This new audience brand is the architect as well as the consumers of social networks (blogs, wikipedia, podcats, Bulletin Boards, etc.). Gauging the likes and dislikes of the online community is on the priority list of every organization and advertising agency. Conversation and dialogue with consumers have become the mantra of this new advertising era.