What Happened
As the usage of ad-blockers continues to rise, publishers have been trying out various methods to persuade users to turn them off. Now the Washington Post is trying a new instant-loading ad product that it believes will deliver a better user experience. The new ad product, named Fuse, offers in-article banner ads that instantly expand into near-fullscreen, interactive pop-up ads when they are clicked. The Fuse ads are “pre-cached” and hosted by the Washington Post, so they will have significantly less latency in rendering than most digital ads, especially on mobile devices. Upon launch, the Washington Post has limited Fuse ads to sponsored content, but says it will be expanded to display and video ads soon.
What Brands Need To Do
This new ad product offers an example of how publishers are trying to deal with the rise of ad-blocker usage by improving the ad experience. More importantly, the Fuse ads point to a workaround for full-page interactive ads that are usually oversized and take a long time to render, providing a way for brand advertisers to engage with interested consumers without losing them due to a lagging ad experience. Therefore, brand marketers need to work with publishers to try out fast-loading ad products to make sure their ads are actually being delivered in a consumer-friendly way.
For more information on how brands can fight the increasing usage of ad-blockers, check out the Ad Avoidance section in our Outlook 2016.
Source: Wall Street Journal