Tag: ad avoidance

Samsung Adds More Ads To Its Smart TV’s Menu Bar

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Samsung is increasing the display ads on its Smart TVs in an attempt to make up for its declining revenue. Users of Samsung Smart TVs will soon begin to see more tile ads that appear in the menu bar alongside the most used apps, such as Netflix or YouTube. Samsung says software updates will activate clickable ads on older models of Samsung Smart TVs.

Why Brands Should Care
By ramping up the ads placed in the menu bar, Samsung is making them hard to ignore. While this move expands the advertising pool for Samsung’s clients to reach smart TV users and helps with Samsung’s bottom line, it may potentially lead to a backlash from consumers who are growing increasingly averse to ads (check out the Ad Avoidance section in our Outlook 2016 for more information). In fact, some Reddit users have already started airing their grievances. This is illustrative of the new reality of digital ads and consumer expectation, and brands should be cautious about where they are placing their ads when exploring non-traditional ads.

 

Source: Wall Street Journal

European Mobile Carrier Three To Begin Testing Network-Level Ad Blocking

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In February, we noted that Israeli-based, ad tech startup Shine formed a partnership with Three Group, a British wireless carrier that also operates in select European markets such as Italy and Denmark, to help the latter block in-app and mobile browser ads at the network level. Today, the Berkshire, U.K.-based carrier announced it is moving forward with the initiative, planning to call for interested customers to sign up for the trial, which will take place in mid-June. For Three, the decision to move forward with the testing is about appealing to consumers’ increasing frustration with mobile ads as well as their growing demand for privacy and reducing data usage.

What Brands Need To Do
If widely implemented, ad-blocking at the network level would prevent most mobile ads from loading, causing severe issues for digital publishers and, to a lesser extent, to online advertisers and brands that rely on reaching customers via mobile platforms. While it remains to be seen whether other carriers will pick up this practice, brands need to take a proactive approach in dealing with the rise of ad-blockers. 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. Also, since Shine’s software won’t affect in-feed ads on social networks, brands may consider increasing their social ad spend.

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: The Guardian

 

Washington Post Debuts High-Speed Ad Product To Battle Ad-Blocking

Posted on by Lab Team

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

Philadelphia 76ers Sell The First NBA Jersey Ad To StubHub

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last month, the NBA approved a three-year trial for teams to put sponsor logos on their team jerseys. On Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers took the leap and struck a deal with StubHub, becoming the first team to ink an on-jersey ad deal in NBA history. The StubHub logo will appear as a small patch on 76ers’ jerseys starting in the 2017-2018 season. Previously, StubHub also announced it will also launch a new ticketing platform for 76ers fans that bridges the primary and secondary markets.

What Brands Need To Do
In a similar vein to the T-Mobile CEO buying a tattoo ad spot on an Olympian track star, this NBA jersey ad initiative is illustrative of how media owners and brands are willing to try out non-traditional forms of advertising to capture viewers’ increasingly fragmented attention. At a time when ad blockers and ad-free streaming services are helping millions of viewers actively avoid ads, it is important for brands to find new ways such as sponsorships and native ads to circumvent consumers’ growing aversion to ads.

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: Digiday

 

Header image is a promotional image from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Why T-Mobile CEO Paid $21.8K For A Tattoo Ad Spot

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced on Twitter that he’s won the bid for putting a temporary tattoo ad on the right shoulder of track star and two-time Olympian Nick Symmonds for $21,800. Legere is also polling his over 2.4 million Twitter followers for what the tattoo should be. But whatever the CEO chooses to put on the athlete, it won’t be the first ad tattoo that Symmonds has worn, as he already has a temporary tattoo of his caffeinated-gum company Run Gum on his left shoulder.

What Brands Need To Do
It is getting increasingly difficult for brands to get consumers’ attention with traditional ads, thanks to the consistent growth of ad-free services, the rise of ad-blocker usage, and the growing aversion to ads in general. Therefore, it is not surprising that brand marketers have been experimenting with new ad formats to reach their audiences, such as sponsored content and native ads. While this tattoo ad spot may be a slightly extreme example of this sort of experimentation, it is illustrative of how brands are exploring new ways to deal with ad avoidance.

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: ESPN

Tubular Labs Introduces Measurements For Branded Video

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Digital video analytics firm Tubular Labs wants to set the standard for branded video with the launch of its Tubular Video Ratings. The metrics are designed to be what Nielsen ratings are to TV ads for the online videos that brands create with publishers and social influencers. One of the metrics, for example, is the “ER30,” which stands for “engagement rate of a video during its first 30 days.” The metrics are calculated based on the data Tubular collects from Facebook, YouTube, and other video platforms, specifically engagement data points such as Likes, comments, and shares.

What Brands Need To Do
As more and more consumers start to use ad-blockers and opt for the ad-free experiences provided by SVOD services such as Netflix, more and more brands are turning to branded or sponsored video to reach their audiences on social and digital channels. However, the lack of a measurement standard in digital video is making it difficult for brand advertisers, especially those transitioning to digital from traditional media, to effectively plan and evaluate their branded video efforts. It remains to be seen whether the industry will embrace the Tubular Video Ratings, but it can at least be a point of reference for brands venturing into branded content.

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: Wall Street Journal

Why Brands Should Consider “Micro-Influencers” For Paid Social Campaigns

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
A new study from influencer marketing platform Markerly found that once a social media influencer passes a certain amount of followers, the audience engagement they get actually begins to decrease. The study surveyed two million social media influencers and concluded that for paid posts on Instagram, the sweet spot for maximum impact is an influencer with a following in the moderate 10,000 to 100,000 range. Markerly calls those micro-influencers. While major social influencers with millions of followers may provide more extended reach, brands that activate a number of micro-influencers may actually achieve a higher conversion rate.

What Brands Need To Do
As consumers increasingly opt out of seeing ads and Instagram plans to introduce a Facebook-like algorithmic feed, more and more brands are turning to paying social influencers to get their messages across via sponsored posts. For those brands, this new study should prompt a reevaluation of their influencer strategy to see if it makes sense to team up with some micro-influencers with compatible audiences in order to reach their target demographic more effectively.

 

Source: Digiday

How Vox’s Facebook-First Gadget Blog Plans To Earn Revenue

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday, Vox Media launched a new consumer gadget blog called Circuit Breaker that will be primarily publishing its content on Facebook, making use of the social network’s publishing program Instant Articles and Live video feature to reach its massive audience. Besides the revenue the site can generate from ads in Instant Articles, Vox is also planning to offer brands editorial sponsorships and possible product placement in Facebook live-streams to help monetize the new content vertical.

Why Brands Should Care
Facebook commands a formidable amount of consumer attention as the app that U.S. mobile users spend the most time in. So it makes sense for Vox to experiment with the new site’s content distribution on Facebook’s platform. The plan it has for generating revenue beyond standard display ads in Instant Articles is illustrative of the new reality in brand advertising today, where marketers have to keep up with increasingly tech-savvy and ad-shunning consumers and figure out new ways to reach them, such as native ads and sponsored content.

For more information on why brands should explore new advertising formats, check out the Ad Avoidance section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdAge

 

SNL To Trade Ads For Branded Content

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
NBC’s longstanding, late-night mainstay Saturday Night Live (SNL) is reportedly looking to cut down the ads it carries by about 30%. In a move to please viewers and offer them more content, the show plans to remove two commercial breaks per episode. Instead, NBC will offer brand advertisers an opportunity to partner with SNL to create original branded content. There are no further details on how the branded content will be produced or distributed, but NBC does state such brand partnerships will be limited to six spots per year.

What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time NBC has tried to improve the viewing experience by trading commercials for branded content. Earlier this year, the broadcaster partnered with American Express on Leap Day for an initiative that replaced some primetime ads with additional content sponsored by AmEx. Other TV media owners such as Viacom and Turner have also promised to cut down the number of commercials to appeal to ad-shunning consumers.

As more and more consumers opt for the ad-free experiences enabled by subscription-based streaming services and ad blockers, it is imperative that brands and media owners work together to engage audiences in new ways, such as sponsored content and native ads. 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

How Starbucks Is Promoting New Loyalty Program On Snapchat

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier this week, Starbucks rolled out an update to its popular mobile app, which came with a revamped loyalty program. Now, the Seattle-based coffee chain is promoting the changes with a sponsored selfie lens on Snapchat. The lens cleverly incorporates golden stars – the symbol for Starbucks’ loyalty points – into its design. Snapchat first introduced the Sponsored Lens in October last year, and 20th Century Fox was the first marketer to buy one, promoting The Peanuts Movie. Starbucks also reports that 17 million people are using its app, which processes 7 million orders per month or roughly 21% of its U.S. in-store sales.

What Brands Need To Do
Besides Sponsored Lenses for selfies, Snapchat has also opened up its sponsored geofilters to allow all users to buy customized filters recently. As the popular messaging app continues to grow its user base and improve its ad products, it is quickly becoming an important marketing platform for brands to reach younger demographics. With consumers increasingly shunning traditional ads (for more on this, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016), we expect to see more brands try out Snapchat’s Sponsored Lenses and Branded Geofilters to reach their audience.

 

Source: AdWeek