Full Motion Video Ads Annoy Fewer Than Expected - So Expect Plenty
from the never-going-to-stop dept
Here's the perfect example of how the bad marketer thinks. If you come up with an advertising technique that annoys fewer people than expected, it's considered a success. That's right, the bad marketers are now judging the success of advertising programs on how many people it annoys. Back in January, I trashed the idea of Unicast's 30-second TV commercials online, pointing out that the internet is not a broadcast medium, and people generally don't want to be interrupted and surprised by a 30 second ad while they're in search of something. Well, the initial tests have concluded, and the marketers are positively thrilled that only 28% of people found them annoying. Of course, that's a fairly simplistic way of looking at it. First, the study was conducted by advertisers, so there's a certain amount of bias built into it. They also don't say how the viewer satisfaction was rated. Second, only 30% actually watched the ads most of the way through (not even all of the way), suggesting that 70% shut it down completely. So, while 28% may have found them annoying, clearly another 42% weren't thrilled with the idea either. Even more importantly, I'm sure some of the initial interest in the ads are due to the fact that it's a novel idea, to see such ads online. Plus, all of the advertisers are big name brands that are used to creating fairly entertaining ads. Fast forward a few years based on these results when every time you close a webpage you're forced to watch a poorly produced 30 second ad for some product you don't want, and see how many people think it's annoying then. Unfortunately, the lazy marketer sees "less than expected were annoyed" and starts planning a big campaign of these ads to make sure that the annoyance level increases to a percentage they're more comfortable with.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Never underestimate the stupidity of corporate Ame
Maybe they should find out how many Internet users are dial up, before they flood our bandwidth with crap we don't want.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Not a fan....
So on that note, has anyone found the precise sites they're coming from so I can block the adservers?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Where's the statistics?
The only long form ads I feel are worth watching are the ones for Salon's free DayPass. Because the content is worth it and I am not yet willing to upgrade to a paid subscription, I'll watch the sponsor's ad everyday.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I just downloaded this product and I would defenet
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Never underestimate the stupidity of corporate
[ link to this | view in thread ]