Bye bye banner ads?
The first ever banner ad provided content that was unexpected, relevant and very different to what the format evolved into. And, says Jon Stubley, it’s time to evolve again in order to remain relevant.
22 years ago – on October 27 to be precise – when Paul Keating was Prime Minister, Boyz II Men were at the top of the charts with ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ and Yahoo! didn’t yet exist, the first banner ad to be delivered at scale appeared on Hot Wired for AT&T.
Fast forward 22 years and The New York Times announced recently that it will be getting rid of standard banners and replacing them with its own proprietary formats that appear more ‘native’ across its site.
The New York Times senior vice president of advertising and innovation, Sebastian Tomich, cited Facebook as an example of being successful with more native ad formats, and noted: “I think more publishers haven’t made this move because it’s incredibly hard to do when your display business and revenue is on autopilot. You have to convince advertisers to change with you”.
Interesting article.
So unlike non interactive mediums where the ads had to stand out. In the new world the ads have to fit it.
But where does that leave Gum Gum’s in-image ads? A relic of the past?
Contextually yes Adam but the creative still needs to stand out. Display almost always delivers stronger results when it acts as an intersection between the user and the content they are consuming.
… read on a site which has a prominent banner ad …