Billboard, pop-up or video ad?

Demand for mobile advertising has increased significantly thanks to the smartphone and tablet boom. They cover the entire screen, pop up in the middle of the text section, stick modestly to the edge of the page, pop up and away again; when the mouse moves over them, the images move: Frequent changes and innovations are emerging in online advertising formats. Billboards, layer ads, medium rectangles, pop-unders, skyscrapers are their names, as are prestitials, wallpapers, video ads, and native advertising. But which forms are currently successful? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of the individual advertising formats? In the jungle of banners, pop-up windows and rich media options, it is first necessary to gain an overview. MK asked six experts."Fragmentation continues"Andi Hess, Head of Online & Mobile at Publicitas, says of the current development of the online advertising market: "Fragmentation is continuing. Whereas until now we moved in a manageable world of IAB standard forms at fixed CPMs, today we find ourselves in a digital zoo of specialized areas, special formats and trading models. The classic banner bookings are losing importance, while the more exotic forms are rapidly gaining in importance in some cases. "In the upper price segment, these include elaborate site takeovers, branding days and expandables on the one hand - and in-ad videos, native advertising/advertorials and like portals on the other. "Growth in terms of volume can be observed in the lower price segment. In addition to Adwords, the well-known triple ads have established themselves here," explains Hess. These are the combination d of a wallpaper/hockey stick and a flash layer, which is intended to achieve increased attention. "Rapid growth is being driven by mobile traffic and the ever-increasing penetration of the market by programmatic."Efficiency and performance"We are seeing a strong increase in the area of real-time advertising and programmatic buying," also registers Hendrik van Dyck, Managing Director of Adisfaction, "here, many prejudices regarding the model have been dispelled in recent months. This form of advertising offers us agencies and the customers more control, efficiency and performance compared to the outdated bookings with an advertising network." He also sees an unbroken upward trend in search engine marketing and increased demand for mobile advertising. "Advertising forms that manage to converge the content of communication messages from TV with audio-visual content and thus interactively captivate the user are in vogue, even if not yet on a large scale," says Andreas Jorgella, partner at The House Agency. He points to rich media forms and large formats that feature enhanced modes, such as deliberate mouse-over behavior. "Modernly implemented in HTML5, there is consequently also use via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets," he adds, "but the masses continue to be moved by standard formats. Here, there is an increasing trend towards larger formats - i.e. from skyscraper to half-page ad or from leaderboard to maxiboard." Formats that fall into the category of "public reports" or "advertorials" are highly underestimated, and Jorgella also refers to "curated content".Transaction costs decrease"The biggest increase has been in automated buying of digital advertising, where spending doubled in this country last year," says Remo Prinz, partner at Mediahead. This is no wonder, he adds, because programmatic buying makes advertising performance more efficient and lowers transaction costs. "Beat Z'graggen, owner of Worldsites, who sits on Media Focus' expert panel, cites the figure of $171 billion that will flow into online marketing worldwide by 2017: "The total online advertising market in Switzerland is expected to increase by 11 percent in 2014 based on the first months of the year. This increase is being driven by the rise in search engine advertising sales of over 21 percent. Online videos are also seeing particularly strong growth." Traditional banners, he said, are no longer growing as strongly, "but we are seeing strong demand for remarketing. "This involves showing ads to previous prospects, and being able to stay in contact with them in a targeted way and follow them through to purchase. "New dynamic forms of advertising, in which more information about the products shown is displayed in the advertising media by mouseover, are very promising," says Z'graggen.Advantages and disadvantages of the channelsBut what are the advantages and disadvantages of the individual forms of online advertising? Andi Hess says: "At the moment, the classic formats and monetization models are coming under pressure from two sides in the online market. On the one hand, customers are increasingly demanding individual approaches to their presence. On the other hand, prices are eroding due to the advance of various RTB providers. In this environment, the classic IAB formats still offer the advantage of universal use. A single set of ads can be created with manageable effort and played out across a large number of channels; including programmatic." Video ads would also provide a solid basis for longer dwell times, making them well suited for conveying emotional messages. "However, the available inventory in the area of specific video platforms is quite manageable in the CH market, and the contact prices are correspondingly high. Thus, people are turning to in-ads and cross-boarders," says Hess.Native advertising increasingly in demandNative advertising operates in an identical field of tension: the volumes available on the national market are manageable, and the price level is correspondingly high. However, a change in thinking on the part of publishers, especially news portals, is noticeable and visible. "Remo Prinz says: "Banners achieve a very high reach and are easily scalable, but receive little attention in return. It's the opposite with video as: the attention is high, but the reach is rather low." The big plus of native advertising is that it is embedded in the editorial environment. On the subject of real time advertising, he says: "In North America, progammatic is already part of everyday media life. And now the train is really picking up speed in Switzerland, too. The challenge now is to create a good Swiss ecosystem where domestic advertisers and publishers benefit equally. The condition for this is a pricing structure that is worthwhile for both sides. Then there is a chance that less advertising money will flow abroad again."Exciting video adsDigital advertising media are a good means of increasing brand awareness, says Beat Z'graggen: "The fact that a considerable amount of media usage time is spent online means that every offline campaign should also be accompanied online. When it comes to attracting as many customers as possible in the short term, there are usually better options." And on video ads, he says, "They can usually be skipped. Andreas Jorgella considers banners to be fast, direct, and can be controlled according to many criteria - and they are suitable for both branding and sales push. "Video ads are exciting because of their convergent investment with the reuse of audio-visual content. But too often people underestimate the relevance for an interactive, self-determining medium in the conception." With native advertising, he locates more of a fleeting contact with short-term momentum. Jorgella puts the brakes on euphoria for real time advertising: "The Swiss market has not yet developed enough. The advantages still lie more with the marketers in the monetization of their inventories, less with the advertiser. "On the advantages and disadvantages of banners, Hendrik van Dyck says: "They offer a good mix of visibility and performance and there is a wide range of offers. But the expectations of user interaction with regard to the advertised content must not be too high". He attests to good attention and recall values for video ads, but says they are often perceived as disruptive. And on native advertising, he says: "It's a clever combination of information, entertainment and advertising. This form combines the possibility of the medium in a sympathetic way. But watch out: It can't simply be extended from TV or print to the Web. You already need good and appropriate ideas and content for native advertising." Author: Gregor Waser