I was browsing muti (a social bookmarking website) and I noticed a story that iAfrica has redesigned. I was curious to see the new design, so I clicked through to see it. Once the article about their new design had finished loading, I was presented with the usual banner ads but there was one new advert that completely threw me off the content.
Whenever I talk or consult with a client, I stress the fact that banner ads are dead. Now I know this a sad fact, as a lot of online publishers generate the majority of their income from banner ads. I have some faith in a certain type of banner ad, an interactive rich media banner ad, but it’s not that much faith. So let me break it down.
- Ad Blindness
Ad blindness can be loosely defined as a condition (or skill) that people have developed over time that subconsciously allows them to ignore advertising. It’s been a hot topic for ages and is becoming increasingly more common among digital natives. - Ad Blocking
Ad blocking tools and techniques that allow people to block advertising from web pages. People can even block your spam attempts at becoming interactive, in the wrong way. - Content Interruption
As you can see with the example above, a lot of publishers insert adverts within content. In this particular example, I am talking about the effects of using rich media banner ads that run across the screen and disrupt the view of the content. Isn’t the content more important than the adverts? People come to your site to view information, not to view adverts. - Poor Results
If you think getting between 10% and 15% click through rate is a success, then I think you need to your definition for success. Instead of wasting the other 85% of your budget on serving wasted ads, you could have invested in marketing to the right people. Facebook might be one of the most trafficed sites in South Africa, but you certainly won’t get the click through rates you hoped for. Digital natives just don’t click on ads anymore.
The demise of banner ads is two fold. Internet marketers aren’t getting the results they used to when using banner ads and publishers aren’t making the same amount of revenue from banner ads that they used to, with the few exceptions. The only way to prolong the existence of the banner ad is to invest more in relevant and contextualized serving of banner ads to the reader. Other than that, I they will die a slow death. New ways of marketing need to be investigated, but more importantly, new revenue models for publishers.
Tags: Advertising
Hi Tyler, I agree with your sentiment, but I’d just like to leave a couple of thoughts to ponder:
1. Although Ad Blindness is very evident, I believe you’ll find that if say you remove all banner ads from iAfrica’s site, you’ll find it standing out like a sore thumb. It’s like the old saying: You only miss it when it’s gone.
Banner ads have become such a big part of websites today that people hardly pay any notice to it. But imagine them all removed. I think people would immediately sense: Wait a minute, something’s wrong here…
2. Adding to point number 1 then: I visited the iAfrica site just now and from all the banners placed on the site, it’s alarming how quickly I was able to spot the difference between advertising (lotto, 1lifedirect, hippo.co.za etc) and a banner ad that’s promoting onsite content like the Formula 1 banner right at the bottom.
Imagery will always have a place on websites that, if done correctly, should attract clicks (not many, but relevant clicks). People have become so trained to ignore pure commercially driven advertising, BUT they are still able to immediately spot a site related banner leading to content of interest. Not true?
The only problem of course is that there’s no commercial model to the F1 banner.
If you visit my WineCountry blog, what perception do my banner ads create? Are you reluctant to click on them?
Looking forward to this discussion.
Hey guys – I use Kaspersky so I don’t very many pop-ups as is. Although I don’t find Henre’s ad’s obtrusive, how else can I seduce advertisers to my site without selling my soul and punting them in every second post?
I use my pop-up blocker setting because I don’t want stuff bouncing over my page…
Thank the sweet lord you’ve brought this up! I was thinking of going to the ASA earlier this week, but i dont know if thoughtless intrusive advertising was on there high alert list. Being in Advertising i cannot resent banner ads altogether (even though i would like to), however considering user experience, and everything we’ve learnt about web 2.0 and the empowered consumer – This intrusive advertising just pisses me off and makes me want to burn Toyota’s in the street! I’ve since been carrying Kerosene and other flammable substance in my boot . . .
@Henre I hear you and all your points are valid. I mentioned that serving relevant and contextualized banners are the only way at keeping the banner alive, along with my faith in useful interactive banner ads (or widgets infact).
If I was a publisher and I decided to remove my banner ads from my site, I wouldn’t leave the design full of holes. Any real designer can create an appealing design that makes use of the screen. Publishers currently design around ads because they have ads. It’s possible to have a great adless design that doesn’t shock users.
With regards to your site, I prefer the interactive competition route you have taken and never click on your ads.
@Rouvanne I would suggest asking you audience. Would they mind sponsored event posts or featured album posts? Be more relevant to your audience and content, don’t post about Omo. haha.
@Jade haha, I feel your pain. I am so used to banners on the side and the top of pages, so I am not bothered. Although I never recommend using them to client. However, I’ve been seeing a lot of these “rich media banner ads” interrupting people’s content and browsing habits, it irritates my soul.
Tyler- Traditional banner advertising is indeed on the decline and ad blindness has been well documented. It is due to this that firms are using overlays (rich media ads served over content). These need to be distinguished from pop-ups/pop-unders. Overlays are cunning little beasts and to be fair their click through rates are more around 35%-40% (mostly because users don’t know how to get rid of them.) Any good planner will frequency cap these to 1 per user 24hrs- at least- so as not to piss off the user too much.
I need to point out that advertisers will never see the 85% of users who don’t click the ad as a waste, it is just seen as not as effective. Just as if you see a coca-cola ad on the street and don’t buy one straight away- it’s not a waste. In fact overlay campaigns should never be seen as direct response campaigns (they’re too damn expensive in order to achieve campaign objectives effectively.)
It is for this reason that we see more and more branding clients moving away from traditional ads and engaging in brand integrations/ site sponsorships/ widgets/ social network apps/ etc.
Whilst I agree that banners are dying, it would be naive to think that they will disappear completely. Users are sympathetic to the need for advertising, and if they aren’t then they will have to be willing to pay for content.
In terms of ‘more relevant and contextualised serving of ads’, this is already available. DoubleClick (Google) , amongst others, have a variety of products which can target, re-target, auto-optimise, etc ads to users. However this technology costs a fair whack and a publisher like iAfrica doesn’t have enough traffic to justify the additional cost.
Just my 5c… much love.
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