When it comes to mobile ads, advertisers are six times more likely to choose ad formats that automatically adapt to the size of the screen rather than standard industry sizes, according to new data. The global study, from Appsnack, the mobile advertising specialist owned by Exponential Interactive, indicated that 86% of ad impressions across mobile […]
When it comes to mobile ads, advertisers are six times more likely to choose ad formats that automatically adapt to the size of the screen rather than standard industry sizes, according to new data.
The global study, from Appsnack, the mobile advertising specialist owned by Exponential Interactive, indicated that 86% of ad impressions across mobile and tablets were accounted for by the “Snackbar” format – which automatically formats itself to 10% of the screen’s size – compared to 14% for standard IAB units, which do not.
Although the automatic ‘Snackbar’ format accounted for 86% of ad views, it accounted for 96% of clicks (see chart). Conversely, standard ad units accounted for just 4% of clicks despite accounting for 14% of ads viewed. Thus, when it comes to mobile devices, people are almost four times more likely to click on a Snackbar ad (2.5%) than a standard industry ad (0.6%).
E.g. in Q1 2013 86% of ads viewed on mobile/tablets were those automatically adjusting to the screen size
Tablet vs. smartphone ad behaviour
Tablet users are 24% more likely than smartphone users to click on automatically adapting ‘Snackbar’ ads – the tablet click-through rate being 2.75% compared to 2.22% for smartphones.
This could potentially be because the ‘lean-back’ nature of tablet usage – being a more conducive device for general browsing, shopping and purchasing than the smartphone.
However on expanding formats, smartphone users are 26% more likely to activate these types of ads to full size than tablet users (3.28% doing so vs. 2.61%). This is partly due to phones having smaller screens but also due to the brief, precise and direct messaging that consumers are looking for whilst on the move.
Niki Stoker, Exponential UK managing director, said: “Advertisers are increasingly moving to mobile ads that can automatically adapt to whatever screen size a person is using. Not only are the click-through rates higher, they are the only ad to appear on a page so the advertiser gets a higher share of voice. In turn, ad wastage is reduced for publishers.
“We are just beginning to define what ‘success’ means in a mobile campaign. These results indicate the industry should be shifting focus more towards brand awareness campaigns as the technology behind mobile ads improves to boost impressions, consumer engagement and, ultimately, brand value.”
The analysis also revealed that when it comes to rich media, small sizes reign supreme – the 300 x 250 ad format induced the highest number of clicks. However, for non-expanding units, the bigger the banner, the better – the 728 x 90 size inducing the most clicks.
Methodology
The data comes from campaigns run by 37 advertisers across more than 12 sectors run through Appsnack in Q1 2013.
Source: www.exponential.com
