Desensitised to standard display advertising, consumers now spend 74% more time engaging with rich media ads, according to new research.
As the levels of advertising across all digital channels continue to rise, traditional display advertising is failing to win-over consumers who are increasingly desensitised to standard banner ads.
Instead, rich media formats are achieving significantly higher levels of cut-through with online audiences, who are three times more likely to click on rich media ads than traditional banners.
The findings are revealed in Adform’s Quarterly Media Barometer which measures consumer trends and engagement with online display advertising.
While advertisers continue to place significant importance on traditional display formats, an industry-wide move toward rich media solutions should be anticipated. Adform’s Quarterly Media Barometer reveals that the time consumers spent engaging with rich media went up by a vast 74 per cent between Q1 and Q2.
This coincides with a spike in online video advertising playtime, which increased by six per cent in Q2. The Barometer also reveals that traditional banner ads are considered ‘not up to standard’ by consumers, and warns advertisers of the importance of embracing cutting-edge and stimulating rich media solutions to achieve higher levels of interaction for online campaigns.
New innovations keep consumers switched on
After suffering a lengthy period of stifled creativity and innovation, a revamp in the approach to online display advertising is necessary. The Barometer, which analysed over 90 billion ad impressions in 18 countries across Europe, reveals that engagement rates with rich media ads is over five times higher than that of standard banners.
These rich media formats consist of interactive banners, which enable integration to different channels including Twitter feeds, retailers’ catalogues and YouTube videos. Advertisers that have already made an investment in rich media ads saw a nine per cent increase in brand exposure quarter on quarter – a unique metric measured by Adform.
Gustav Mellentin, CEO at Adform commented: “A number of key innovations are coming to fruition in online display advertising from real-time bidding and rich media to dynamic creative optimisation, and better mobile and social integration. Where some advertisers are clearly reaping the rewards available to them, many more advertisers are missing out on the opportunity to optimise their campaigns.”
Mellentin added, “Taking a scatter gun approach to online advertising is no longer effective, with consumers switching off to ads which offer no creativity or relevance to them. In order to achieve higher levels of engagement, a targeted approach which uses both traditional and rich media solutions is necessary. The biggest obstacle facing advertisers is dealing with the high numbers of suppliers, which is costly, inefficient and harder to get one’s head round. One platform that can deliver all the above features is surely a cleaner and more effective method for advertisers to access the many innovations the online advertising industry is producing today.”
Source: http://www.adform.com
