Mobile ads may have fallen victim to "fat fingers"

If you have been in the media industry in the last five years, you will know that mobile advertising has grown leaps and bounds. While it’s been available for quite some time, it has recently trickled down to local advertiser budgets. There are many advantages to this kind of vehicle; however, research is beginning to prove that advertisers must be realistic with the results of a campaign. Click through rates (CTR) may be padded by “fat fingers.”

The theory is that people accidentally click on a mobile ad without intending to navigate to that page, which has coined the term “fat fingers.” According to eMarketer, the company GoldSpot Media recently did some research to learn whether or not the theory is true.

Initial results showed that 38% of clicks on static ads and 13% of clicks on rich media mobile ads were unintentional. The process for this was to evaluate actions after a click was made. If a user stayed on the website for more than two seconds, then it counted as an intended click. Conversely, if a user bounced out of the site less than two seconds after the click, it was deemed “fat fingers” and removed from the CTR results.

From this, the company devalued the rich media CTRs from 4% to about 2%. Likewise, static media CTRs went from 3.1% to 1.1%.

While this may affect how advertisers value the CTRs of mobile ads, it should still be known that even devalued mobile results are significantly higher than computer desktop CTRs.

Consumers explain how much trust lays with advertisements

In all honesty, do you trust every advertisement you see? You are in the industry, so your perspective may be a bit skewed. What do consumers think?

According to MediaPost, Nielsen conducted a study to see how respondents trusted media. Overall, the advertising landscape, which consumers define as “Don’t Trust Much/At All” measures up as follows:

§       71%: Text ads on mobile phones

§       64%: Online banner ads

§       64%: Ads on search engine results

§       60%: Product placements on television

§       58%: Ads on the radio

§       53%: Ads in magazines

§       53%: Ads on television

Interesting to point out that the traditional media maintained a better ratio of trustworthiness vs. untrustworthiness compared to digital media.

While this seems bleak for advertisers, research had this to show for consumers trusting an ad:

§       92%: People I know information

§       70%: Consumers opinion

Nielsen made the point that advertising campaigns that had a social component did perform better in the trust scale. It does make sense in that if a product is positively received by a friend of the consumer, he/she may be more likely to try it out. It was recommended to combine a few media vehicles in order to bolster trust from consumers. 

Do people multi-task when listening to internet radio?

If someone logs into an internet radio station, will he/she multi-task while listening? Or will his/her attention solely be on radio? Parks Associates on behalf of TargetSpot recently conducted a study to see how internet radio listeners spend his/her time when he/she is tuned in.

According to MediaPost, the vast majority of listeners are multi-tasking. Of those listening, he/she tends to do the following at the same time:

§       57% make a purchase online

§       56% research products/services for future purchases

§       60% are on social media networks

An interesting aspect of the results shows listeners views on advertising:

§       59% like to get coupons and offers from advertisers

§       55% don’t mind listening to ads in order to keep the station free

What can advertisers take from this? If moving forward with an online radio station, make sure the product/service website is prevalent. That way, it can help encourage listeners to research and possibly make a purchase. Also, it may be helpful to include a promotional offer vs. a straight branding initiative. 

Can anyone advertise on an arena jumbo screen?

For years, sports stadiums have had sponsors and advertisements all over the venue. While LED boards and jumbo HD screens used to be exclusively for team sponsors that has recently changed.

InStadium is a sports venue network company that helps advertisers get messaging into stadiums without being an official sponsor. According to MediaPost, this change can be attributed to teams needing to create new revenue streams.

The media company has partnered with about 480 NBA, MLB, NFL and NCAA teams. Advertisers can expect a ten-second PA announcement to encourage fans to look at the jumbo screens, a 30-second video, and digital crowd rings. All three components are set up to complement each other.

How does this help advertisers? This will enable those who are not team sponsors reach a large and engaged crowd.

Live tweets on a print ad?

Research has proved to advertisers for years that a media mix is one of the most successful ways in creating a strong campaign. Would combining multiple media in one platform make the campaign even stronger?

The CW Television Network recently combined print and social media in a branding effort. According to Mashable Business, the network created a print insert with a small LCD screen in the center. The screen looped a short video and followed up with the most current six tweets from @CW_Network. Approximately 1,000 ads were inserted in Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles and New York.

The intention was to align the network digitally; therefore, the Twitter feed was monitored to see how often the CW’s tweets were retweeted. Fans could retweet in hopes of making it onto the ad.

This is the first print ad to have a live Twitter feed, and it could lead to more integrated ads in the near future.

Is there a magic length for effective online video ads?

For advertisers, we are constantly looking for new ways to reach the consumers in an unobtrusive way that is still engaging. Once a media platform is decided, the next step is to figure out how best to present the product/service to the audience.

For example, let’s take video pre-roll ads. Advertisers can buy various time lengths in hopes of informing the consumer and encouraging a call to action. But, is there a key time length that all advertisers must abide by?

The Center for Media Research released information on a study conducted by Jun Group. The study focused on how users react to the pre-roll video content. A highlight is that video completion varies with the length of the ad. A :15 spot had a 99% completion rate, :30 had 98%, :60 had 92%, :90 had 90%, and 2 minutes+ had 87% completion.

Even though the completion rate was higher with :15 ads, the consumer engagement was lower than a video between :30 and :60 seconds. In fact, the interactive level was about the same for both the :15 and :60 - :120 category. Engagement levels were also higher with the 55+ age demographic. Interestingly enough, the 18-34 category was the least likely to engage in video content.

What can advertisers take away from this? First of all, the thought that :15 spots are the absolute best length isn’t entirely true. While it has a highest completion rate, the engagement isn’t. Advertisers must strike a balance between who the consumer is, where they are viewing online video content, what the creative message is, and how long it takes to get the message across effectively.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Cable subscribers tend to watch more TV than non-subscribers

With the new generation of media consumers becoming more accustomed to watching video content on devices other than a television, what does that mean for video consumption?

According to eMarketer, Altman Vilandrie & Company conducted research on US cable subscribers and non-subscribers and how they view video content. It was found that about the same amount of subscribers and non-subscribers use online video subscription services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc. For example, 38% of people with cable and 39% of people without cable had Netflix.

The difference between the two groups is the amount of video viewed. While cable non-subscribers watch TV approximately 29.3 hours a month across a variety of devices like TV, PC, tablet and mobile, cable subscribers consume 59.5 hours a month.

Therefore, both groups are watching video content on the same kind of devices, however, cable subscribers tend to watch more.  

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...