Display ads are big. They’re gonna be huge.
That’s what Google wants us to do, and I couldn’t agree more. Yesterday, Google execs (VP of product management Neal Mohan and managing director of media and platforms Barry Salzman) gave a keynote address at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference, “Display 2015: Smart and Sexy.”
you can watch the full video here
Google predicted the future of display advertising, and gave seven key predictions for 2015. A recap on the Google blog shows a bright future for online advertising, social media and mobile marketing:
- 50 percent of ad campaigns will include video ads bought on a cost-per-view basis (that means that the user will choose whether to watch the ad or not, and the advertiser will only pay if the user watches). That’s up from very little today.
- Today, advertisers are starting to deliver ads that are tailored to particular audiences. Many are using real-time bidding technology, so that they can bid on the ad space that they think is most valuable. In 2015, 50 percent of these ads will be bought using this real-time technology.
- With smartphone growth skyrocketing, mobile is going be the number one screen through which users engage with advertisers’ digital brands.
- Today, the “click” is the most important way that advertisers measure their display ad campaigns, but it’s not always the best measure—especially if an ad campaign is designed to boost things like brand awareness or recall. With new measurement technologies emerging, in five years, there will be five metrics that advertisers commonly regard as more important than the click.
- Just like most news articles on the web today can be commented on, shared, discussed, subscribed to and recommended, in 2015, 75 percent of ads on the web will be “social” in nature—across dozens of formats, sites and social communities.
- Rich media formats work. They enable great creativity and interaction between users and advertisers, but today they only represent about 6 percent of total display ad impressions. That will increase to 50 percent, for brand-building ad campaigns.
- All the investments that are making display advertising smarter and sexier will help publishers increase their revenues. Display advertising is going to grow to a $50 billion industry in five years.
The keynote was very interesting to watch, and several Google employees also demonstrated new Google technologies, like True View and Google Goggles. As a media planner, I was surprised by some of the stats they gave (really – only 6 percent of ads today are rich media ads?) but mostly, I was pleased because I thought that we, as a company and as an industry, are on the right path to growth and success. At Overdrive, we pride ourselves on measuring EVERYTHING, and we certainly have multiple metrics – other than just clicks and impressions – as key performance indicators. We’ve been measuring engagement rates, interactions, ROI, conversion rate, and other factors relevant to each client. We also pride ourselves on creating dynamic, engaging, and social media-rich ads and campaigns:
remember this ad for Harley-Davidson?
Some advertisers might think that Google’s predictions are too bold, but I’d like to stay positive and hope for continued developments in this arena. As marketers and advertisers, we really should be embracing the power of display ads, and the online media and mobile space. As Google predicts, it’s only going to get bigger. And better.
