‘People don’t hate ads’ – how media companies are creating relevance for marketers
While many ‘traditional’ media companies struggle to maintain profits, others are embracing the digital disruption and emerging technologies to shape a new future for themselves. Here Mumbrella looks at what this means for TV businesses and the way they sell and distribute their content
They may not have known it at the time, but October 27, 1994, is when media businesses were first confronted with the digital world. That’s the date when the first online banner ad went live. It was for AT&T on a website called Hotwired, the digital version of Wired magazine, and, fittingly enough, explored how emerging technologies would transform our world.
The banner ad in question didn’t even feature AT&T’s logo, yet was clicked on by 44% of visitors – a figure largely explained by its novelty value – and was prophetic in its message. “Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE?” it asked, pointing to the words “You will”. The campaign gazed into the future and predicted that technology would shape everything we do and, in some cases, eliminate the need for human involvement.
SpotX is a video ad serving platform providing media owners with monetisation tools for desktop, connected and mobile devices.
…..Or as Seven’s Dickens puts it more succinctly: “People don’t hate advertising. People just hate advertising that is not relevant to them or poorly executed.”
Well put sir, but that is half the picture, Frequency ( as in promo breaks per hour) and repetition ( how many times we see a TV commercial in a given programme) has a lot to do if we watch a programme through to its conclusion. .
With virtually no marketing to promote the use of ad blockers, 615 million devices worldwide now have them installed. Some browsers come with ad blockers already installed, and it won’t be long before they all do. Websites already plead with visitors to whitelist their address.
If people don’t hate ads, this behaviour seems unaccountable.