With ad viewability on the rise, how do brands get heard above the noise? Antti Pasila, CSO and Founder at Kiosked looks at how the industry needs to use this opportunity to spend wisely to cut ad fraud and ad blocking numbers.
For the first time ever, 2017 will see brands spending more money on online advertising than TV. This forecasted ad spend by ZenithOptimendia not only highlights a huge global shift in budgets but a shift in marketing priorities.
The report highlights that marketers are recognising the potential of 1:1 creative advertising. Previously, brands with big budget to throw at TV advertising could only hope their messages reached their desired sofa-seated audiences, online advertising has the potential to be more accurate, timely and relevant when it comes to connecting with consumers at home or on the go.
In a macro-view of this latest ad spend figure, marketers are quite clearly grabbing the opportunities upcoming global events like the 2016 Rio Olympics, UEFA European Championships and US presidential election will bring to connect with consumers. However, as more brands plough their money into online advertising the competition demand for better performing ads that cut through this increased internet advertising ‘noise’ will undoubtedly heighten.
For this growth in online ad spend to be realised, and for brands to cut through that noise, some major industry challenges need to be overcome; adfraud is rife and intrusive ads are commonplace, on top of this, brands need to place higher value on transparency. For these issues to be overcome, the industry needs to have tighter regulations in place – ensuring both brands and buyers know what needs to be adhered to and are supported as the overcome these challenges. In addition to this, companies need to start vetting traffic and see if an impression has been made by human eyes or a fraudster bot, in order to bring even greater levels of transparency to the industry.
With the introduction of more transparent advertising ecosystems, advertisers and publishers will be able to develop a trusted relationship and have complete visibility of the full spend and return. In addition to this consumers can get access to free, high-quality content through paying with their eyes. If this experience is even close to pleasant, informative and relevant, consumers will actually start to value ads like the way those reading high-end fashion magazines appreciate adverts for the likes of Gucci and Prada. At the moment this scale is not in balance, but there is still opportunity for publishers to win back users by providing a better, content-consumption experience.
A cleaner, transparent advertising ecosystem would result in a positive experience for publishers, advertisers and viewers alike, creating a “win-win-win” situation. Only then can the potential that online advertising brings to brands be finally achieved.
By Antti Pasila
CCO & Founder
Kiosked