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Industry-Research

Survey Reveals Publishers Programmatic Frustration

In a survey of more than 600 buy and sell side professionals Technorati found that almost half of publishers (45.45 %) say they are frustrated by not being able to have demand partners compete with each other on each impression. As a result they are forced to use tactics they don’t peculiarly like to try and maximize yield.

Almost half of those surveyed (49 %) say they use passbacks and floor prices to maximize yield of programmatic demand solutions, essentially “daisy-chaining” or waterfalling, the practice of giving each partner in a series a chance at an impression before moving it along to the next partner if it is not purchased.  About the same percentage manually adjust ad serving rules based on estimated CPMs and fill and/or work with fixed-CPM partners.

Those surveyed identified the following as their biggest challenges when working with programmatic demand solutions:

  • Not being able to have demand partners compete with each other on each impression (45.45%).
  • Daisy Chaining or Waterfalling partners is inefficient and not as effective as I’d like it to be (43.43%).
  • Not having my own internal developers with time/resources/ expertise to support my needs (44.44%).
  • Not having the technology and tools that address my needs (43.43%).

Technorati also found that while the majority (64.71%) of publishers and buyers use just 1 to 5 programmatic partners, a significant segment of both groups use more than 6 programmatic partners (29% for buyers and 27% for sellers).

The majority of buyers (66.47) said that they buy ad inventory through private marketplaces. Publishers surveyed believe that inventory discovery, deal negotiation and inventory packaging all need to be improved in private marketplaces.

programmaticprivate

 

Advertising | Industry-Research

Do Millennials Consume Content, Ads and Shop Differently?

A new report from Adroit Digital compares Millennials’ shopping behaviors and advertising preferences with those of their older counterparts. While Adroit points out that a great deal of research closely examines generational behaviors and attributes, this report focuses on behaviors, particularly how Millennials shop, consume content and respond to advertising as compared with older shoppers. Adroit Digital conducted a study to ask Millennials and those 35 and older about their shopping and content consumption habits. The study was fielded from April 24, 2015, through May 24, 2015 and targeted a random sample of 1,000 US and Canadian consumers who self-identified as 18–34 years of age and who owned both a smartphone and a personal computer, and 500 US and Canadian consumers who self-identified as age 35 and older and owned both a smartphone and a personal computer.

Key findings include:

  • Both Millennials and those 35 and older do the majority of retail browsing in-store—57% and 61%, respectively.
  • When it comes to which online social medium affects retail purchases the most, both Millennials and those 35+ chose online review sites, 55% and 54%, respectively.
  • The majority of respondents are also more likely to click on a mobile ad over a desktop ad—55% of those 18–34 and 52% of those 35+.
  • The majority of survey respondents replied that online and/or mobile advertising does affect what they purchase—75% of those 18–34 and 73% of those 35+.
  • Millennials are slightly more likely to click on a native ad than a banner ad—81% compared with 75% of those 35+.
  • Millennials are slightly more bothered by advertisers’ remarketing efforts—83% of those 18–34 vs. 77% of those 35+.
  • When it comes to noticing ads between devices, the majority of both age groups surveyed report that ads on their mobile devices grab their attention more than ads on PCs.

influencemobileadonpurchase

Industry-Research

Mobile Technology Bridges the Digital Divide

Millennials, the first digitally connected generation, display more similarities in technology use than differences among two of the largest ethnic groups in the United States. It appears growing up digitally connected with total access has preempted the technological divide. To understand this further, the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted the Media Insight Project for the second time among digital Americans ages 18-34.

According to this research, Millennial African Americans and Hispanics are connected online at similar rates to the general adult population. In fact, technology ownership is high with 7 in 10 of African Americans and Hispanics, respectively, owning a smartphone. Further, 85% of African Americans and 78% of Hispanics use their smartphone to access news information.

Overall, Americans use four different devices or platforms to get news in a given week including televisions, radio, print, computers, cell phones, tablets, e-readers or smart internet connected televisions. Device ownership by ethnic group is quite similar; African Americans own 4.3 devices, non-Hispanic whites own 3.9, and Hispanics own 3.5.

Interestingly, when asked their preferred method for discovering news, 6 in 10 Millennial African Americans (66%), whites (61%) and Hispanics (60%) reported their preference as getting news directly from news organization rather than a technology that curates it and delivers it to them such as social media or an aggregator.

One important distinction is that Hispanic (38% and 30% once a day, respectively) and African American Millennials (33% and 45%, respectively) are more likely to use YouTube and Instagram for news than white Millennials (20% and 19%, respectively) overall, although all groups are heavy users of Facebook.

In terms of news report believability, Millennial non-Hispanic whites (42% “very much”) are more likely to trust the information they get from newspapers versus African Americans (30%). And Hispanics are more likely to trust the information they get from national network news (60%” very much or completely”) than whites (45%).

Importantly, the report testifies to mobile technology closing the digital divide in technology use for news consumption, offering Millennial users more control over the sources they use and the information they consume.

Millennials Race and Ethnic Report pic

Industry-Research

The State of Tags in Digital Media

Based upon its work with nearly 400 digital media organizations, the Parse.ly team examined how different companies use, or don’t use, tags and published an Authority Report on The State of Tags in Digital Media. For the purpose of its analysis, Parse.ly defines tag as:

  1. Metadata accompanying an article or post on a media or content site.
  2. The most common use of tags is to identify topics or subjects in an article that go beyond the high-level “section” designation.
  3. Sometimes tags are also used to help readers or internal users find other articles that cover the same subset of topics.

According to the report, there’s been a significant amount of discussion about the possibility of expanding the usefulness of tags beyond topic identification to a classification system of anything including identifying sponsored content, sentiment, tone, and length. Interestingly, Parse.ly found that tags have no bearing on audience size. Publishers who are not using tags garner a higher number of average daily page views (one million) than publishers who are using tags (612,000 average daily page views).

While most digital publishers use “keyword tags” to categorize posts by topic, some are now turning to “knowledge tags” to classify content beyond the topic of an article. According to Parse.ly, publishers have found value in tagging by: Content Type, Editorial vs. Native/Sponsored Content, and Paywall Access.

They found that the average number of tags per post, among all posts using tags is 5.2. However it is interesting to note that they found that using more tags doesn’t necessarily generate more page views.

parslytags

Advertising | Industry-Research

Viewability Continues to Trouble the Marketplace

Display ads were 11% less viewable in a year-over-year comparison reports Integral Ad Science in their Q2 2015 Media Quality Report. The viewability measure for display dropped from 49.4% in 2Q 2014 to 44% in Q2 2015. In fact, publisher sites decreased their viewability rate from 55.5% to 50.1% as did ad networks and exchanges from 45% to 39.9%.

During the same quarter fraud decreased to 14.1% from 16.5% in Q1 2015. Publishers fared better with fraudulent impressions at 3.7% where ad networks and exchanges had close to 4 times more fraudulent traffic at 14.1%. Overall video ads perform better than display in both viewability (37.2%) and fraud rates (11.6%) in Q2 2105. While the industry has made improvements in non-human fraudulent traffic, it’s slow to improve in viewability.

Integral also offers the “TRue Advertising Quality (TRAQ)” score using a mix of metrics including fraud, viewability, ad clutter, brand safety and professionalism. Display averaged a score of 604 on a scale of 1,000 with publishers scoring a 656 and ad networks and exchanges scoring a 584.

viewability and fraud

Advertising | Industry-Research

Global Mobile Advertising Revenue 2014

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB Europe, and IHS Technology report that global figures for mobile advertising revenue which rose 64.8% to $31.9bn (€23.9bn) in 2014 from $19.3bn (€14.6bn) in 2013. They find that this growth is being driven by continued shifts in consumer usage patterns and industry innovations.

According to the IAB, the global figure of $31.9bn (€23.9bn) for 2014 is made up of these regional shares:

  • North America: 44.9% ($14.318m / €10,781m)
  • Asia-Pacific: 36.5% ($11.627m / €8,754m)
  • Europe: 16.6% ($5.306m / €3,995m)
  • Middle East and Africa: 1.2% ($379m / €286m)
  • Latin America: 0.8% ($239m / €180m)

Among the key findings:

  • Growth year-over-year was led by North America, which saw a 76.8% leap over the 2013 figures.
  • All regions grew by more than 50%.
  • Mobile display continues to show the highest growth at 88.1%, overtaking search as the dominant segment.
  • Search represented 46.1% of the total global mobile advertising revenue in 2014.
  • Display represented 47.4% of the total global mobile advertising revenue in 2014 at $15.1bn (€11.4bn). 
  • Mobile search followed, up 55.%, taking a 46.1% share.

IABdisplayrevchart

Advertising | Industry-Research

Ad Blocking Predicted to Cost Ad Industry $21.8 billion in 2015

Use of ad blocking software is gaining rapid adoption with 198 million monthly active users worldwide reports The Cost of Ad Blocking published by PageFair and Adobe. Global usage of ad blocking software increased 41% from 2Q14 to 2Q15. In the U.S. alone, ad blocking usage expanded to 48 million monthly unique users, a growth of 48%, presenting approximately 16% of the U.S. online population.

What does this mean for the future of the Internet publishing and advertising? The ad industry anticipates losing $21.8 billion globally in blocked revenue this year with $10.7 billion in the U.S. alone. This figure is set to almost double by 2016 when the global cost of ad-blocking is expected to reach $41.4 billion.

What’s driving adoption rates? User adoption of Google Chrome and its easy installation of ad blocking extensions grew 51% from 44 million monthly active users in 2Q 2013 to 126 million in 2Q 2015. Further, while mobile only accounts for 1.6% of ad blocked traffic, new operating systems such as Apple’s iOS9 will make it easier for consumers to block mobile ad traffic. It’s the first time app Apple will allow app makers to develop ad blocking software for iPhones and iPads. Usage of ad blocking on mobile is expected to increase exponentially.

What do these ad blockers look like? Consistent with prior research, ad block users are typically, young, technically savvy, and more likely to be male.

Why are users blocking ads? PageFair and Adobe also surveyed 400 internet users asking what would drive them to use ad blocking software. The top two responses reported “misuse of personal information” (51%) and “an increase in the number of ads” (41%).

GlobalMaus

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Four Online Video Advertising Trends You Should Be Thinking About

For all the similarities to linear television advertising, there is actually quite a lot that is unique to the market for online video ads. These findings explore the most recent trends we observe in the data. One thing is for certain: Online video advertising is a moving target.

Here are a few things to consider,  based upon the insights we’ve gained:

1. Are there shifts in ad duration? Despite the research that reveals that shorter ads have higher completion rates (Wistia did some excellent research as far back as 2012 and TubeMogul just this last week), there isn’t a sudden pivot towards short video ads in preroll. Looking through the six quarters from January 2014 through June 2015, the distribution of ads by duration reinforces this. There are increasingly shorter ads with 15 second spots most popular (38%), but 30 second spots are next runner-up (36%). Very short video ads, sometimes called “snackable clips” are rare in display. They account for 1.3% of all video ads. Why don’t we see an immediate shift? There are many who have a strong disincentive to give into shorter length video. In traditional linear television, ad duration generally strongly correlates to spend. e.g. A 30 second spots is approximately half the price of 60 seconds.

One interesting surprise is the expansion of long form video ads (> 60 secs). In Q1, 2015, 16% of videos running are greater than 60 seconds. While this isn’t up significantly from Q1, 2014 (15%), the total number of advertisers buying in video is up 110%! In short, long form video ads continue to be actively produced and it’s keeping pace with the rapid expansion of video advertising!

2. To Skip or Not to Skip? Video ads without skip options continue to be the most common type, with 89% of all ads viewed offering no option at all. While video ads with a skip option exists, only a handful of sites use it. These include more traditional broadcasters such as CNN and CBS, as well as YouTube.

3. Why Are Skip Buttons Going Away? There are a couple of key reasons that 89% of video ads don’t have the option to skip:

Reason 1:  Video ad Inventory is scarce! Most websites have too little video inventory to sell. They can’t very well have their ad inventory chewed up by users clicking “skip”. Many sites won’t charge the advertisers for ads skipped, giving them a strong incentive to remove it.

Reason 2:  Advertisers want to know that there ads were seen. By eliminating the skip button, the odds improve greatly. For example, Vevo eliminated the mute button also, another move benefiting the advertiser.

And, of course, we can’t discuss video without discussing YouTube. YouTube has so much inventory that they can afford to allow its users to skip. They guarantee advertisers they will only be charged for ads seen through completion.

4. What industries dominate Video Ads? With 27% of all ads, entertainment and media advertisers are the most prevalent. This is over 2x more than the second place category—finance and business (which includes insurance). Video ads for TV, film and DVD/on-demand releases were the most common. Some surprises: Automotive, which dominates terrestrial TV, has a lower proportional share; just 8% is from automotive. And food, which is 9%, we see several brands testing online video they don’t buy in traditional broadcast TV. For example, companies like Ghirardelli chocolate are experimenting with video ads for more niche products.

So while TV ad spending continues to dwarf online video ads, innovative companies like those in entertainment know that “video advertising is the future,” as Mashable recently wrote.

Methodology: MediaRadar measures online video ads across almost 200 of the largest media brands, including traditional broadcaster websites and Internet pure plays. To understand the overall market, we have normalized YouTube, so it does not wash out all other sites selling video ads.

Todd Krizelman is Co-Founder and CEO of MediaRadar (@MediaRadar). Growing up near the epicenter of technological innovation in Palo Alto, California encouraged him to become an entrepreneur and co-found of one of the world’s first social media sites, theGlobe.com. Krizelman also held leadership positions at Bertelsmann’s Gruner + Jahr and Random House. With his expertise in ad sales and innovation, Krizelman joined veteran web architect, Jesse Keller, to found MediaRadar in 2007.

Industry-Research | Perspectives

What Marketers Think of Big Data and Internet of Things

2nd Watch surveyed 500 IT and marketing professionals in large and midsize companies regarding the use of big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud-based data warehouse technologies to support digital marketing plans and programs. The results indicate growing confidence in the use of these technologies and success deploying them. 2nd Watch has released an infographic that provides top line results from its research.

Among their key findings:

  • 50% of respondents are likely to expand use of big data to support digital marketing.
  • 24% use data to power campaigns and promotions
  • 47% say that big data-base digital marketing campaigns have been effective for meeting customer engagement and demand generation goals
  • 53% say it’s likely they’ll expand IoT-based digital marketing programs
  • Nearly 20% are being very aggressive this way, and another 27% plan to begin an IoT project for digital marketing soon
  • 29% leverage the IoT to better understanding of customer preferences

bigdatapoint

Industry-Research

How Well Do You Know The OTT Video Market?

Following on the heels of a recent survey of over-the-top (OTT) trends published by Level 3 Communications and Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. A new infographic reveals a potential shift in consumption and delivery practices.

Interest in live linear programming continues to grow, with OTT services beginning to offer live channels. As the report points out, OTT providers need to continue enticing new prospects to gain market share. For existing OTT providers, however, offering a video on-demand (VOD) service may not be enough to maintain, much less grow, market share.

Adding live linear channels is quickly becoming table stakes in OTT. New OTT entrants embrace a long-term strategy that includes both VOD and live linear channels.

HowWellKnowOTT

One trend pointed out in June, as part of another Level 3 infographic based on insights from the StreamingMedia.com survey, may explain how live linear channels will finally allow OTT to attract a global audience.

Titled “How Well Do You Know The OTT Video Market?” the infographic shows that OTT delivery is morphing to a global television model, something traditional over-the-air (OTA) broadcasters have never been able to create.

The more robust OTT services use multiple CDNs, a fact that’s borne out in the recent survey and infographic. What’s even more interesting is the importance assigned to peering agreements, even for OTT services that use a single CDN.

Part of the reason for this shift may be revealed in the early June Level 3 infographic: while OTT has traditionally been a regional play, and continues to be for some of the major players like Amazon—more on that in Tim Siglin’s September 2015 “Streams of Thought” column—there’s a marked shift away from single-region OTT delivery towards global delivery.

Both the initial report and Level 3’s infographic highlight the fact that half of all OTT service providers focus on global delivery, with only a quarter focusing on single-region delivery. That shift is a clear indication that OTT is finding traction in a way that was technologically impossible for over-the-air broadcasters and limited even for satellite delivery—at least when it comes to customized content delivery for granular sub-regions across the globe.

Along with this shift to global delivery comes a shift in monetization strategies. Almost 60 percent of OTT providers surveyed say they have a multi-layered approach to their monetization strategy.

One trend pointed out in the Level 3 infographic is the rise in popularity in pay-per-view (PPV), even among those OTT providers that might traditionally only focus on advertising or subscription delivery.

While advertising and subscription almost always evenly split the OTT space, with neither one clearly dominating, the introduction of a third choice—PPV for major events—shows significant traction, especially for OTT providers that use both freemium and paid subscriptions as part of their OTT service.

Click for full-size image.

The original version of this post originally appeared on StreamingMedia.com. Republished with permission. 

Advertising | Industry-Research | Video

Online Video is the Fastest-growing Category of Internet Advertising

Online video advertising revenue is estimated to reach 16.2 billion worldwide with the US by far the largest market at $8.5 billion reports ZenithOptimedia’s Online Video Forecasts 2015.

Given the rapid penetration of smartphones and tablets, worldwide total video consumption is expected to increase by 20% in the coming year from 48.1 minutes per day this year to 57.6 minutes per day in 2016. Mobile devices are expected to be the main platform for viewing online videos growing from 46.8% (22.5 minutes per day) share of time spent this year to 52.7% (30.4 minutes per day) in 2016.

timespentvideo

Online video viewing globally skews to young adults and is slightly more male (14.2% males 18-24 and 13.8% males 25-34 vs. 8.5% females 18-24 and 8.4% females 25-34) based on comScore (Video Metrix, September 2014).  Understanding online video consumption habits and the video publishing infrastructure is important to marketers in identifying the right short- and long-form advertising and branding opportunities for their target audience.

Industry-Research

Digital Magazine Sales Will Top 1.3 billion in 2015

Digital magazine consumption reached 43% of print magazine consumption reports Mequoda in their Digital Magazine Market Study. The research study was conducted in Q2 2015 polling 3,642 US adults with Internet access.

More than one-third of respondent report reading an average of 2.37 digital magazine issues in the last 30 days. In other words, 77 million adults read an average of 184 million digital magazine issues in the last month. The report also estimates spending on digital magazines will top 1.3 billion in 2015.

Consumers ranked relatively equal levels of importance to the magazine distribution points; on the web (37%), tablet (32%) and print (31%). Readers were emphatic about their preferences demanding readable and scrollable text on their digital editions. Further, 9 in 10 respondents report 20 articles or less is ideal for the perfect issue.

Digmagstat

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