Tablet owners expect interactive ads, research highlights

Original Article by Sarah Shearman of Mediaweek
 

IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) and Ipsos MediaCT recently conducted surveys and qualitative interviews to 1000 tablet users to study consumer behavior on tablet advertisement. 55% of the respondents believed that tablet advertisements can provide something that is different than advertisements via other channels. Specifically, the respondents believed that interactivity of ads is the key to be different. The study showed that interactive ads were perceived as innovative, where the innovative ads were much more “engaging” and “memorable” to the respondents. Furthermore, more than 66% of the total respondents were “open to advertising [and] willing to see more ads on tablet apps if it meant lower upfront costs.”

Link: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1142908/Tablet-owners-expect-interactive-ads-research-highlights/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

As we discussed during Digital Marketing class, there are many emerging marketing channels, such as mobile, location based services, social gaming, or augmented reality. However, due to the rise of smartphones, mobile seems to be the most popular emerging channel. As the study by IAB and Ipsos MediaCT shows, many potential customers are willing to see interactive ads in tablet applications, only if the applications become cheaper. By applying this logic to mobile channel, marketers can sell products by integrating interactive ads in popular mobile applications! Yet, this is not an easy task. Specifically, the marketers need to answer the following questions to successfully launch mobile ads and applications:

·         What exactly is an interactive advertisement?
·         How can you integrate your product or service to the interactive advertisement?
·         Do you have strategic plans to increase user-base to your mobile application?
·         What is the boundary between cheap and expensive applications? In other words, do you think your mobile application is providing values to existing users?

In order to answer these questions, I believe that the marketers must first fully understand weaknesses and strengths of their products and services. In other words, if you know what you can and cannot offer, you have better chance to launch innovative advertisements.