Search engine giants Google have introduced two new tools for people to determine the success of their display adverts in campaigns, while it has also been announced that the UK Internet adspend has increased 14.4% to £4.8 billion.
The two new tools from Google, although the finer details are a little unclear at this stage, are referred to as Active View and Active GRP. The first tool, Active View has been created to show if an ad has actually been viewed. An article in Search Engine Watch, quotes Digital Strategy Advisor, Augustine Fou as saying “this is a way to help advertisers only pay for display ads that are actually seen, and that’s a good thing for the whole industry”.
The counter-argument to this points reference to the fact that it may be difficult to get this off the ground, as ad agencies and networks currently buy/sell impressions no matter if ads have been seen or not. Google are defining a ‘viewed impression’ as a viewable ad that is displayed on the screen for a minimum of one second. The reason this tool has been created is simply to encourage users to invest in web advertising and to help them see the maximum value in digital content.
Active GRP (Gross Rating Post) is the second tool, whereby users can adjust their advertising campaigns after understanding how much of the advert was seen and how long for via Active View. The tool can be used to measure the success of campaigns for mobile, display and video ads.
The point mentioned above is all the more relevant after it was announced that UK Internet ad spend has increased 14.4%, as it gives users the chance to keep close tabs on their own campaigns and improve the success of their adverts to generate a greater awareness. Advertising spend increased to a record figure of £4,784 million for 2011, up £687 million when compared to the previous year.
The Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) working with PricewaterhouseCoopers found that online advertising is growing at a fast rate, and the increase seen last year was the biggest in five years despite the current state of the UK economy. Retail, consumer goods, and finance where the three largest display advertisers in terms of spend, followed closely by entertainment/media and technology.
There was also a 17.5% increase in paid search marketing for direct response advertisers, taking the value of spend to £2,346 million for 2011. It’s clear to see that advertisers are viewing the importance of the online market within their own campaigns and the current increase in spend makes this point all the more relevant. In addition, digital media has spread beyond the desktop as users are now viewing adverts through mobile devices and tablets which opens up the market for extra opportunities for advertisers.
The figures for spend are high, and adverts are clearly having an effect on Internet users, which is why it’s important to monitor your campaigns and ensure that you are effectively targeting your customers. The new Google tools will help with this process and ensure you are generating targeted and effective adverts to your audience across all platforms.
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With the amount of ad spend increasing, having improved technology like this will be of great help. It will probably help even more users to invest in online advertising, as you’ve mentioned in your post. I’m interested in whether Active View will take off though, given that ad impressions are what count for many agencies. I’m surprised this hasn’t had that great deal of exposure, but really interesting nonetheless.
That’s great to hear that the technology is improving – that will only help increase the online advertising spend i’m sure! It also raises the bar to entry somewhat as the top competitors now have more tools at their disposal to outperform others within their industry. Similarly, more opportunities for people to really make the most out of these developments and get ahead of all the late adopters.
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