According to Newsworks, the research shows that ads appearing in quality online environments are 42% more cost effective for advertisers based on levels of engagement, viewability, above the fold placement and dwell time.
A premium exposure is 58% more likely to be 100% in view (which is GroupM’s global viewability standard) for at least five seconds. The online industry standard is 50% in view for at least one second. Conversely, the study found that 48% of measurable ads on the open exchange were never actually seen.
In contrast, ads in quality digital environments - defined as a website where consumers have a deeper relationship or affinity with the brand, for example newsbrand publishers or sports websites - are 98% more likely to be placed fully above the fold, and 273% more likely to prompt a hover from a user. Premium placements also produced stronger response rates across the board with average uplifts of +10.5% for brand awareness, +19.2% for ad recall, +9.7% for brand perception and +10.3% for recommendation intent.
The study results from a partnership between GroupM UK, Newsworks and Newsworks’ national newspaper stakeholders, and covered 84 campaigns, over 398 million impressions and 28,549 filtered survey responses. This scale is on a par with industry surveys such as TGI. It ran between September 2017 and June 2018, with GroupM analysing the ad environments of live digital campaigns. The findings will now be used to build an industry-wide quality exposure factor for programmatic buying systems.
Robin O’Neill, MD Digital Trading, GroupM UK, said: “We all instinctively assume that where you see an ad has an impact on how you receive it, but it’s one thing to assume something and another to quantify the value of it. This study provides conclusive evidence that when it comes to ad environments, not all digital is equal and advertisers stand to benefit hugely from seeking quality online contexts.”
Vanessa Clifford, Newsworks’ CEO, added: “For years now, digital advertising has been used as a catch-all term in our industry, encompassing a myriad range of contexts. Now we have the insight to differentiate the value of a high-quality placements – such as on a newsbrand website – from general free browsing. This marks a huge step in our ongoing effectiveness programme and, working with GroupM, our aim is to make this work an actionable part of the online buying process for advertisers.”
Richard Madden, strategy director at BBH, commented: “From a creative agency’s perspective, this study is so exciting. The more we understand about the environments in which ads are appearing, the more we can adapt our work to capitalise on the opportunities available to us.”
The results will be presented at Newsworks’ 2018 Effectiveness Summit at the Ham Yard Hotel this morning (Tuesday 3 July), along with speakers including British Gas’ Patrick Smith, Unruly’s Becky Waring and BBH’s Richard Madden.
