INSIGHT blog

Posts Tagged ‘display advertising’

Online Marketing Campaigns Still Facing High Click Fraud Rates

12
August
2009

While click fraud rates have slightly decreased, advertisers must continue to be aware of this ongoing issue.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

Many of my previous posts have sung the praises of display advertising.  Banner advertising is great for branding, driving search, and supporting online conversion goals, but there is one major caveat to these programs: Click Fraud.  Many marketers define click fraud as any method of artificially inflating clicks or page impressions.  Some define it solely for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, however this is just as common with other campaign models such as Cost-Per-Thousand impressions (CPM).  You may ask yourself ‘Why would ad networks want to generate false clicks?’ Well, if the program is on a CPC model, then the advertising network garners revenue based on how many clicks are received. If a campaign is running on a CPM model, click fraud would help make an ad campaign appear more effective. Ad networks are not always the culprit either. Individual publishers within networks can also engage in this internet crime in order to increase their cut of the revenue generated. Direct competitors can also be the fraudsters, “spending” your money quickly in order to decrease your share of voice.    

While recent studies have shown that click fraud rates have decreased slightly in 2009, it still continues to be a major concern for online marketers as these bad clicks are increasingly coming from automated scripts.  There are companies who provide auditing services to combat click fraud, but they are not always going to be able to detect these malicious clicks 100% of the time as these scripts continue to become more sophisticated.  

Online advertisers must be aware of this problem and know the signs of when it is happening. Having a reliable analytics tool is the best step advertisers can take to not fall victim to this crime. Most analytics packages allow you to see geographically where most of these clicks are being generated or if specific keywords are receiving a surge in traffic. Advertisers must monitor and trend these metrics s to detect fraudulent clicks and making sure marketing budgets are being spent wisely.

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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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