Now an interruption from our sponsors
Posted in Blog Post, Getting it wrong, insight
Data came out this week that illustrates two competing visions of the future of advertising.
According to eMarketer, digital display (banner ads) continues to balloon with growth of 14% in 2011. This is largely driven by the rapid adoption of impression-level, real-time bidding (RTB). RTB gives agencies and brands the ability to bid on individual ad impressions based on site, location of ad, and data available for retargeting or other audience segmentation. RTB represents the first real innovation in media buying for at least a century.
Advertisers love it because it reduces media waste with better targeting and data-driven audience segments, which makes the advertising more relevant to consumers. Publishers mostly love it because it better monetizes their remnant inventory and also increases the relevance of the overall page experience for the consumer.
That’s all well and good, but how does this paradigm shift in paid media really impact the consumer? Does increasingly relevant advertising have them dancing in the streets? Not by a long shot. According to a AdweekMedia/Harris Poll, 43% of consumers find ignoring online banner ads easy, this compared to the “traditional” TV, radio and newspapers at 14, 7, 6 percent respectively. And don’t think it’s just old farts who are leery of the internets and are programmed to shut down mentally at sight of television commercials. Nine percent of the 18-34s, 13% of the 35-44s and 14% of the 45-54s said that they tune out banners completely.
What does this mean? Well, for one thing, it means the interruptive model of sponsored advertising is broken, and it may sound grandiose –remember, I’m a guy driven by vision– I think we are heading for cataclysmic change that will bring about a new advertising model. I see the day when I will take my grandkids to a museum to show them quaint “advertising” because they will not understand the concept of paying attention to rude commercial messages that disrupt their personal experience.
I think video games and movies are already doing this by simply placing their products in the environment. For example: lots of skating games are advertising skating brands because it is an effective way of advertising those brands, more so than any interuptive model ever could. Ever see the Truman show? It’s like that only without the actual callout. We a psychologically drawn to things in the normal/cool scenery, We think because it is in the scene it is normal/cool, I want to be normal/cool, I’m going to make sure I buy that.