Online Ad Networks

Some consumers are noticing brands' attempts to promote their social presences in advertising, with some media channels more likely to elicit a response than others, according to [pdf] results from a Burst Media survey of more than 2,500 US online adults. Respondents reported being most likely to notice brand-related social accounts in online banner ads (27.2%), but a relatively high number also notice them in TV (24.1%) and print (21.1%) ads. Among those who recall brands promoting their social assets in digital ads, about 6 in 10 say the efforts are very (29.4%) or somewhat (31.6%) effective in prompting social interaction with those brands. A similar percentage (58.7%) feel the same way about social cues in TV ads. Read more »

Never mind paying for it. Mobile device owners would prefer to spend time engaging with advertising in order to receive free content, whether that be a tablet (77%) or smartphone (70%) application, or even a newspaper (66%). The findings, from a study [pdf] commissioned by Tapjoy and conducted by the Yankee Group, indicate that a majority 53% of tablet owners have viewed commercials in order to access a free download of a paid app, and about 2 in 5 smartphone owners have done the same. The study refers to ad engagement as a form of virtual currency which mobile device owners are willing to exchange for free content. Read more »

Twitter says its Promoted Tweets are working, but Twitter users may hold slightly less positive attitudes towards ads on the platform: just 1 in 10 find Twitter ads such as Promoted Tweets to be "very effective," although another 45% find them to be "somewhat effective," according to survey results from Ask Your Target Market (AYTM). But, those numbers go up among users who watch video clips within expanded tweets (including those from Vine and YouTube): 20% of this group thinks Twitter ads are very effective, and 61% think they're somewhat effective. Read more »

Made-for-web content performs just as well as repurposed TV content when it comes to ad engagement, according to research from Tremor Video. The study, named "Upfront, NewFront, Nupfront," compared ad metrics for 5 publishers that repurpose TV content on the web with 4 made-for-web content publishers during the first quarter of the year, finding the click-through rates for the repurposed TV content (1.11%) and for the made-for-web content (1.09%) to be evenly matched. Engagement rates were also similar, with made-for-web content (2.72%) slightly ahead of repurposed TV content (2.68%). Read more »

The volume of smartphone impressions on the Millennial Media platform is increasing, but not as quickly as impressions from non-phone connected devices, represented primarily by tablets, according to [download page] Millennial Media's latest Mobile Mix report. In Q1, the company reports that non-phone connected devices accounted for 25% of total platform impressions, up from 20% a year earlier. That 5% point gain came entirely at the expense of smartphones, which dropped from 75% to 70% share of impressions. Feature phones, somewhat surprisingly, kept steady at 5%. Read more »

A global shift in marketing budgets from traditional to digital media has been well documented of late, and new survey results from Martini Media suggest that UK marketers are hopping aboard the digital marketing train. 95% of brand advertisers and agencies responding to the survey said they will increase their digital marketing spending this year, with fully 48% of total budgets going to digital media. In particular, 63% will increase their social media investments, 57% their mobile investments, 40% their video investments, and 36% their rich media investments. Read more »

PointRoll has released data [pdf] from its upcoming 2012 Benchmark Report, revealing that in-stream video ads achieved an average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.62% last year, far outpacing mobile (0.15%), rich media (0.14%) and standard banner (0.1%) ads. The findings support a similar conclusion reached earlier this year by DG MediaMind, which also found in-stream video ads to outperform those other formats, though with vastly different benchmark figures. (The DG MediaMind report put the US benchmark CTR for in-stream video at 1.11%, and mobile at 0.88%). Read more »

Senior executives from around the world aren't that enthusiastic about social media marketing, according to new figures released by Doremus and the Financial Times from their annual "Decision Dynamics" survey. 51% of respondents feel that advertising in social media is more intrusive than advertising in a magazine or newspaper, while only one-third believe that a social media presence enhances a company's reputation. The study results indicate that, in general, while executives are embracing online and mobile activities, they're not doing so at the expense of traditional media. Read more »

Just 35% of advertisers target many small, specific audiences when buying ads or paying to promote content on social media properties, according to [download page] a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Kenshoo Social. The study reveals that the most common practice among these professionals (who spend upwards of $100,000 a year on social advertising) is rotating through multiple creatives (60%). Even when using targeting, paid social media advertisers are using more basic types, according to the study. Read more »

Some tablet owners are spending a significant amount of time watching video on their devices, details GfK in a new data release. According to the study, among tablet owners, Millennials (born 1977-1994) spend on average 23% of their total video viewing time (time spent watching video on any device, including TV, in a 7-day period) with their devices. Millennial tablet owners are far more engaged with video on their devices than other generations: Gen Xers (born 1965-1976) spend 16% of their video viewing time with them; Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) spend 11%; and pre-Boomers (born before 1946) spend 6%. Read more »