ARE CONSUMERS STARTING TO VALUE NON-DIGITAL EXPERIENCES?
Yes. We’ve seen it in the plateauing of ebooks and the continued strength of print books. Now, other media are seeing it too (even marketing people at mobile companies!):
“‘We’re seeing that people really love their phones, but many are craving a digital detox,’ explains Meredith Vincent, executive advertising director at AT&T Mobility.”
In book marketing, we should always remember the reasons our customers value books.
DIGITAL STUDY SUGGESTS PEOPLE WANT DIGITAL ADS TO BE MORE LIKE PRINT
An article on niemanlab.org points to a Swedish study that suggest that intrusive ad forms—such as video, interstitials and rich media—are so disliked that CTR is negatively correlated to an ad’s effectiveness:
“The study revealed that the most effective of these formats was the static image. Static banner ads had the greatest effect on a reader’s preference for a brand and intent to purchase the item advertised — and those are among the categories that matter most to advertisers who, at the end of the day, want to sell something.”
The research team discovers that a “good” ad is a relevant one. That’s the goal: An informative static ad that does not get in the way of what you’re looking for, but offers relevant information you can choose to follow up on.
SEARCH ADS DECLINE WHILE DISPLAY SPACE STAYS STRONG
The effectiveness of pay per click search advertising is diminishing, but the realm of display advertising is growing in strength. In ClickZ’s report from Connect conference:
“WordStream’s @larrykim: 95% of time online is spent consuming content but just 5% searching for it.”
INSTAGRAM PUSHES MORE VIDEO ADS
In the announcement that they will start counting video views, Instagram also says that, like Facebook, three seconds of view-time will count toward a view. The question is are these views more valuable than a Vine, where videos play instantly, or is three seconds still too little to count even if it’s user-initiated.
DIGITAL AD SALES ARE UP REVENUES ARE DOWN
An article at Columbia Journalism Review, looks at the struggles of media platforms that rely on digital ad spending for their bottom line, even as they’re growing:
“And yet growth can have its downsides. Even as digital ad spending climbs, flooding into video and expected to surpass TV, it’s also pressure on media sellers to lower their prices, leading to what some experts are calling, “digital deflation,” and an overall slowdown in the ad spending market, The New York Times reported.“
The image in this post is a photograph of the Robert Ryman show at Dia's Chelsea Gallery, looking in at one of the galleries from the entrance hall.