Hallmark Halves Streaming Ad Load To Attract Viewers

What Happened
The Hallmark Channel is looking to cut the volume of ads in half for its original primetime shows starting next year. According to the network, new episodes of its original shows such as “Chesapeake Shores” and “Good Witch” will only include five to seven minutes of commercials instead of the current 15 minutes of ads. The network says that it is reducing the ad load in the hope of better competing with the ad-free viewing experiences provided by OTT services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The Crown Media-owned channel is not the first cable network that responded to viewer’s growing ad aversion by cutting down ad load. Networks such as the History channel, A+E, and Viceland have all experimented with similar initiatives.

What Brands Need To Do
Back in 2015 when Apple announced its decision to enable ad-blocking extensions in Safari in iOS 9, we advised brands to counter the trend of Ad Avoidance by trying new ad formats, sponsored and branded content, and generally improving their online ad experiences. Two years later, new unblockable ad formats, such as sponsored selfie lenses and VR product placements, have emerged or become widely available for brands to explore.

 

 


Source: AdAge

 

Google Confirms “Preinstalled Ad-Filter” Is Coming To Chrome

What Happened
A month after the initial reports about Google planning to integrate ad-blocking features into its Chrome web browser, the search giant confirmed the plan on Thursday, announcing that it will preinstall an ad filter in Chrome starting early 2018. Chrome is the most used web browser in the world, owning over 54% of the global market share of web browsers as of this month.

As previously reported, the ad-blocker will aim to filter out ads that are deemed “annoying” by the standards of Coalition for Better Ads, a group that Google formed with advertising companies to improve online ad experiences. Google says it will give publishers at least 6 months to prepare for the ad filter coming next year, offering a self-service tool for analyzing ads on their sites to make sure they meet the standard set by the Coalition.

What Brands Need To Do
Back in 2015 when ad blockers were taking off and became a hot topic in the media industry partly thanks to Apple’s decision to enable ad-blocking extensions in Safari in iOS 9, we advised brands to counter the trend of Ad Avoidance – subpar online ad experiences and increasingly ad-free options are driving online users to actively avoid ads – by trying new ad formats, sponsored and branded content, and generally improving their online ad experiences. Two years later, new unblockable ad formats, such as sponsored selfie lenses and VR product placements, have emerged or become viable for brands to explore.

Since then, ad-blocker adoption has continued to grow worldwide, particularly on mobile. The 2017 Internet Trends report by Mary Meeker pointed out that nearly 400 million mobile devices ran ad blockers last year. This upcoming Chrome ad-blocker will only serve to accelerate the mainstream adoption of ad-blockers, further pushing publishers to optimize their ad experiences. For brands, this should be an opportunity to start exploring digital ad formats that are better integrated into the user experiences.

 


Source: AdAge

Google Takes On “Bad Ads” With A Built-In Ad-Blocker For Chrome Browser

What Happened
Google plans to take on online ads that cause subpar user experiences by adding a built-in ad-blocker to its Chrome browser, the most popular web browser in the world. The ad-blocker will target “unacceptable ads” as defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, a online ad regulation group that Google is a member of. The Coalition’s Better Ads Standard, released last month, calls out pop-ups, autoplay video ads with sound, interstitial ads with countdowns, and large “sticky” ads as “below the threshold of consumer acceptability.” In addition, Google is reportedly also considering blocking all ads on sites which have ads that don’t meet those standards.

What Brands Need To Do
We first called out the trend of Ad Avoidance – subpar online ad experiences and increasingly ad-free options are driving online users to actively avoid ads – back in 2015 when ad-blockers start to take off among Internet users, which was partly trigger by Apple allowing ad-blocking extensions in its Safari browser on iOS devices. This upcoming Chrome ad-blocker will only serve to accelerate the mainstream adoption of ad-blockers, further pushing ad-servers and publishers to optimize their ad experiences on site. For brands, this should be an opportunity to start exploring newer digital ad formats that are better integrated into the user experiences, such as in-feed social ads or branded content.

 


Source: Wall Street Journal

Facebook Expands Branded Content And Marks Them As “Paid”

What Happened
On Thursday Facebook updated several policies regarding branded content on its platform, enabling more pages to share it and updating its branded content tag to include the word “paid.” The social network first started allowing verified Pages to publish branded content last April, before adding branded content options to its Instant Articles last June. Now, non-verified pages can submit applications for access to the branded content tool, which will be available on iOS apps and the web, with Android support to come in the coming weeks. In addition, Facebook now also allows logos, watermarks and graphical overlays to persist throughout a video to help brands and publishers to distinguish their content.

What Brands Need To Do
This update marks Facebook’s latest efforts to make its platform more brand-friendly by facilitating brands to serve their content to Facebook’s billions of users worldwide. At a time when an increasing number of consumers are turning on ad-blockers and opting for ad-free subscription services to actively avoid ads, branded content provides an un-blockable way to organically reach customers and influence their purchase intent. For brands looking to leverage branded content to engage customers, Facebook’s update should come as a welcome addition as it allows more influencers to post branded or sponsored content.

 


Source: Marketing Land

Sony Sponsors NCAA “Boss Button” For March Madness Viewers To Promote PlayStation Vue

What Happened
Sony took a fun and unorthodox way to promote PlayStation Vue by creating a branded “Boss Button” for basketball fans who are watching the NCAA March Madness games at work. Also known as a panic button, the Boss Button allows slackers watching the game on NCAA’s site to quickly switch to a normal-looking PowerPoint file titled “Progress Score” whenever someone important walks by (this doesn’t work in offices with an open floor plan, obviously). If they happen to take a second look at the presentation, they will find that it is actually an ad for PlayStation Vue, Sony’s OTT TV streaming service. NCAA has been putting Boss Button on their online media player for March Madness games since 2006, but this is the first time a brand has been integrated into this goofy feature.

What Brands Need To Do
This is a cool example of how brands can think outside the box to reach customers in unexpected places. At a time when ad blockers and ad-free streaming services are helping millions of viewers avoid ads, brands and media owners need to take proactive measure and experiment with new ways, such as sponsored content and native integrations a la this Boss Button, to win back the eyeballs.

 


Source: ReCode

 

Header image courtesy of Sony and NCAA

Shine Pivots From Network-Level Ad-Blocking To Ad-Filtering

What Happened
Israel-based ad-blocking startup Shine has announced it will be pivoting to a new business model. Instead of partnering with mobile carriers, such as Three in Europe and Digicel in the Caribbean, to block display ads and in-app native ads at a network level, the company will rebrand as Rainbow and shift its focus to verify ad quality against industry standards such as LEAN. Ads that pass Rainbow’s verification will be then digitally stamped and pass along to customers of partnering carriers, who have opted in for Rainbow’s ad-filtering service.

What Brands Need To Do
The rebranding of Shine points to an interesting development in the ad-blocking landscape. A recent survey shows that over 40% of millennial internet users worldwide has an ad blocker enabled. Yet, despite the prevalence of ad-blockers among younger demographics, the sudden pivot seems to signal the difficulty that Shine must have come to face by going against all mobile advertisers. Shifting its business model allows the company more room to expand its business and remains a player in the mobile ad-blocking space.

Regardless of the changes on Shine’s part, widespread aversion towards subpar ad experience caused by intrusive and slow ads remains the same among mobile users. Therefore, brands need to take a proactive approach to deal with this growing aversion. One good way to do so is to explore new formats of digital ads, such as sponsoring online events and livestreams and producing branded content.

 


Source: AdWeek

 

Toyota, Taco Bell & Starbucks Make Play For Branded Content

What Happened
More and more brands are embracing branded and sponsored content in order to reach the increasingly distracted customers. This week alone saw three big brands making a play for content marketing. Toyota is sponsoring an upcoming original YouTube series created by Buzzfeed video creator and star Ashley Perez, aligning its brand message of “helping millennials go places” with the show’s theme of empowerment. Earlier this week, Taco Bell debuted an original weekly video series “Taco Tales” on its YouTube page, aiming to entertain and connect with customers with “stories that could only happen to Taco Bell fans.” Starbucks, on the other hand, is teaming up with three writers from “The Simpsons” for an original video series, which will come in the form of animated shorts that highlight Starbucks’ culture and feature its stores, the baristas, and the customers.

What Brands Should Do
As consumer attention becomes increasingly fragmented and the subpar mobile ad experience drives many users to use ad-blockers {a trend we explained in depth in the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016), it is becoming more and more difficult for brands to reach their desired audience via traditional media channels. Therefore, brands should take a cue from Mercedes’s influencer efforts and be willing to explore new forms of advertising such as sponsored or branded content, as well as new media formats such as VR and 360-degree video, to circumvent consumers’ growing ad aversion and pique their interest.

 


Sources: As linked in the article

NBC To Air Live Ads For Oreo And Toyota During “Hairspray” Broadcast

What Happened
NBC is set to shake things up a bit for the upcoming broadcast of its live production of Hairspray by experimenting with native, in-program advertising. Instead of cutting to a commercial break, Oreo and Toyota will promote their products with live commercials performed in character by the cast of the musical in a retro style that harkens back to the early days of television commercials.

Moreover, the show will also feature a song-and-dance number inspired by Reddi-wip’s milk delivery history. In addition, NBC will also run two segments of sponsored content during two breaks with brand sponsors’ messages showing alongside behind-the-scene looks via split-screen.

What Brands Should Do
This is not the first time that NBC has tried out this type of native ads to appeal to an increasingly ad-avoidant TV audience, as the broadcaster substituted some regular ad spots during its primetime shows in February with AmEx-sponsored native content from the respective shows. This upcoming initiative seems to be a natural continuation of this trend. At a time when ad blockers and subscription-based streaming services are helping millions of viewers actively avoid ads, it is important for brands and media owners to take measures in response and come up with new ways, such as sponsored content and native ads, to engage with their audience.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer eyeballs, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 


Source: AdAge

Maybelline Sponsors Holiday Gift Guide On Snapchat To Reach Shoppers

What Happened
Maybelline is sponsoring a two-day campaign on Snapchat to reach Millennial holiday shoppers. The company is partnering with Sweet, the Snapchat-only publication created by Hearst, to launch a pop-up holiday gift guide that will run for today and Saturday. The sponsored gift guide highlights a collection of holiday gifts on Sweet’s Discover channel, interspersed with ads from the makeup brand. According to Hearst, Sweet gets about 16 million unique views a month and about one million daily. Previously, the Snapchat publisher also run a five-part themed series called “The United States of Sweet” sponsored by GE this summer.

What Brands Should Do
Snapchat’s ad business is hitting its stride as the company behind the popular messaging app files for a confidential IPO and start selling its first hardware product Spectacles (which we have managed to get two pairs ready for demo here at the Lab). This sponsored campaign serves as a good example of brands using messaging apps as a marketing channel to connect with customers. As Snapchat continues to improve its ad products to match its rapid growth, brands need to consider getting on Snapchat to reach its growing number of users via not only standard video ads, but also more unconventional ad units such as custom Geofilters and branded selfie lenses.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to win back the increasingly ad-avoidant consumers, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 


Source: AdWeek

Lead image courtesy of Sweet’s promotional image

Ebay Tests Sponsored Replays And Skips On Pandora For Holiday Campaign

What Happened
Brands can now sponsor replays and skips on Pandora, features that its free-tier users only have limited access to, to get their brand messages across. Ebay is among the first brands to test out this new native ad product for its two-week-long holiday campaign. Pandora first started testing brand-sponsored replays and skips back in September, and is now allowing brands to sponsor them based on music genre, such as holiday music, workout music, or latino music, so as to more effectively reach their target audiences.

What Brands Should Do
By providing users with functional value, this ad product from Pandora should help brands grab listeners’ attention and get their brand messages across. For brands seeking more effective ways to reach today’s ad-avoidant consumers, this type of native advertising should be worth a try.

For more information on how brands can leverage branded content and sponsorships to earn consumer attention, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 


Source: AdWeek