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Watching Audiences That Watch Display Ads

27
July
2009

Researchers at the Walt Disney Company utilize biometric data from test subjects to monitor eye movement and reactions towards display ads.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

The New York Times reported today that Disney executives have established a measurement process to scrutinize online advertising display data to determine how, when and why web surfers see and click banner ads.  As most online advertisers will agree, it is fairly easy to determine how website visitors react to an ad campaign once they click on an ad.  But what about the millions of eyeballs that never click on the banners.  Disney believes that not nearly enough is understood about this non-clicking audience and should be researched further to maximize ad revenue opportunities.

To read the entire New York Times article on how Disney Labs is planning and executing this research – CLICK HERE.

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Benefits of Display Advertising

21
May
2009

Banner ads effectiveness ensures future use of this format.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

To all the haters who say that banner ads are an ineffective form of online marketing or to not invest as much into this format of online advertising: you better check yourself.

After attending AdTech San Francisco last month and listening to the dialog from industry thought leaders, my own thoughts regarding online media buying were reaffirmed. Banner ads are to online marketing as posters, flyers, billboards, print ads, etc. are to traditional marketing. These tactics are an integral part of marketing, creating a holistic approach to grabbing the attention of a specific audience. Furthermore, the results of running an online advertising campaign are better tracked and measured than traditional advertising methods.

My opinion of display advertising was further codified by the recent report released by iProspect.  A third of internet users surveyed reported that they clicked on display ads. But wait! It doesn’t end there: 27% reported that they did an online search for the product, brand or company, and 21% directly entered the company Web address. Nine percent used social media tools to gather more information as well.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be.  As stated in my previous blog, display ads drive emotion which manifests into people searching online as well as offline. Again, the creativity of the display ads are a huge component of what drives emotion, so I must give kudos to Apple’s "Get a Mac" banner ads.  Apple’s creative team has taken banner advertising to the next level, making it interactive, entertaining but not intrusive. These 30 second rich media ads have the Mac and PC characters interacting in the leaderboard and large rectangle ads. The ad currently running on the NY Times homepage even includes commentary from a fake hair growth ad in the ad space on the opposite side of the webpage. Brilliant AND hilarious!

Online media buys are still well worth the investment, just make sure to run A/B tests with good creative and track the metrics the campaign. So don’t worry about the future of display advertising, it’s far from dead- more like alive and kicking. 

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Highlights from AdTech San Francisco

30
April
2009

The message is just as important as the delivery medium.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

Last week I had the pleasure of attending AdTech in San Francisco. There was much to see and do; two floors of exhibitors and 3 rooms of seminars.

Highlight speakers included Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia; Jason Kilar, CEO of HULU; Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo; and Shelly Palmer, Managing Director at Advanced Media Ventures.

Much of the conversation at the conference centered around the role of display advertising, and how "creativity" still plays a strong part in online advertising. Creativity was defined at AdTech as ideas, not just words and pictures; and story telling which connects people emotionally and intellectually.  The best way for a company to promote its brand or product online is to research who their audience is, then test out several tactics using analtyicts tools to measure which tactic the audience responds to the most, and finally use creativity and innovation to continue the conversation with the audience.

Display ads help drive emotion in consumers which then generates buzz and engagement. Of course this means companies must create meaningful content in order to establish relationships and give users a quality experience.  "Creativity" is force behind the convergence of search and display advertising as display ads help drive search not only online but offline as well.

There is a fundamental difference between advertising and marketing. Consumers are ultimately in control; they choose when and how they want to see ads. Companies need to find a balance between giving the consumers what they need and promoting a brand/product . This balance where content/utility = advertising is called marketing.

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Is YouTube Losing Money?

21
April
2009

Despite being one of the most popular websites, some experts predict that Youtube is actually losing money.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

What do Google, Yahoo!, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and YouTube all have in common? According to Nielsen Online, these are the five most popular web brands in the U.S. during February based on the number of unique visitors. Each month thousands of people visit these websites, helping to make money for the companies. But, at least one of those companies, YouTube, isn’t nearly as profitable as everyone thinks. In fact, some experts predict that YouTube may actually be losing money, despite its popularity.

Several market research companies have estimated YouTube’s revenues for both 2008 and 2009. Estimates for 2008 range anywhere from $75 million to $189 million. While for 2009, the range is from $120 million to $500 million. There is a wide range between those predicted revenue numbers, but regardless of what numbers you use, predictions about YouTube’s expenses are far greater.

Analysts from Credit Suisse considered YouTube’s bandwidth costs, content licensing agreements, hardware needs and other expenses, and predicted their total expenses to be around $700 million in 2009. With YouTube likely losing a significant amount of money, how can this be corrected?

"The issue for YouTube going forward is to increase the percentage of videos that can be monetized (likely through more deals with content companies)," the analysts said. "[YouTube needs] to drive more advertiser demand through standardization of ad formats and improve ad effectiveness."

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CBS Cashing In On March Madness

23
March
2009

The current state of the economy isn’t likely to significantly effect CBS’s ad revenue from March Madness.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

The NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament started last Thursday meaning that "March Madness" is here in full force. Studies have shown that most companies typically suffer losses during this time due to a lack of productivity from their employees. For CBS, this is one thing it doesn’t have to worry about, since it is the network carrying all the games and therefore receiving all the advertising revenue.

Since 1999 over 291 different sponsors have spent a total of $4.2 billion on TV advertising during the tournament. The record high was set last year with $643 million being spent by 102 advertisers. In addition to TV advertising revenue, CBS also receives digital ad revenue from broadcasting games on its website, which in 2008 this was around $23 million.

With the current state of the economy some expect CBS’s March Madness advertising revenue to decline. However that doesn’t look to be the case at least for online ads. According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS said that $30 million will be generated from online ads, which is a 30% increase from 2008. But, how TV advertising revenue will compare to years past remains to be seen and likely won’t be released until after the championship game on April 6.

 

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