Tag Archives: native

INVERSO September

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I’D LOVE TO SEE THAT PRESENTATION AGAIN

LinkedIn debuts “Native Video” to increase engagement.

“We are getting a wide range of people from tugboat operators to rock blasters and landscape architects,” Davies continues. “So, we have to think about how video will be most useful for those people.”

Lights, camera …

http://adage.com/article/digital/linkedin-debuts-nativ/310189/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1504032567&utm_visit=1144142

 

 

WOULD YOU LIKE EPIPHANY WITH THAT?

Have a little literature with your commute, thanks to the same concept that brings you Coca Cola and Fritos in waiting areas – vending machines. It’s happening in France and San Francisco.

How much for an O. Henry?

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/short-story-vending-machine

 

 

THE AGING FACE OF FACEBOOK

It seems teens have other places to be:

http://adage.com/article/news/fb-charts/310188/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1504032567&utm_visit=1144142

Which is why CNN is going on Snapchat:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/22/cnn-launches-daily-news-show-on-snapchat.html

Which doesn’t mean Facebook doesn’t still rule the world:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/04/the-fake-news-fallacy

 

 

#HAPPYBIRTHDAY HASHTAG

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/business/hashtag-anniversary-twitter.html?mcubz=1

 

 

Next to Now – Late July Edition

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IAB FAUs with VR, AR, and FAQ

The Standard Advertising Units are meeting new standards, as the IAB releases its new portfolio of Flexible Ad Units, including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and other formats, spanning the latest in social media, mobile video (vertical! 360-degree!) and even emoji.

The biggest change is from fixed pixel sizes to aspect ratios. This may not be a big deal this week, but like the transition from Flash to HTML5 it will be changing our lives very soon.

OK GO!!!

 

 

PROGRAMMATIC NODS TO NATIVE

MediaRadar says more native is being purchased while programmatic spending is down.

This is partly due to brand safety concerns but performance plays in, our own experience suggests.

Print continues to descend – but readers gonna read. It’s not dead yet, especially among the kinds of readers who buy hardcovers.

Explore Nativity

A fuller look at ad spends this quarter HERE

 

 

SEARCH NODS TO DISCOVERY

Giving the people what they didn’t know they wanted.

“It requires a lot of tracking resources, which is not an easy thing to do, but success on the web is not easy either.”

Shop around

 

 

THE 10 MOST WATCHED ADS ON YOUTUBE

Help them to be watched still more.

Takeaways: Know what your audience knows and use that to tell a story they’ll relate to.   (Bonus: spend lots of money.)

Application: Utilize comps, fonts, art, and language to build familiarity, and if possible subvert the viewer’s expectations in a rewarding (amusing) way.

BEHOLD …

 

 

Next to Now – Mid-May Edition

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ROBO-COPY

The next job to be obsoleted by technology will be the copywriter, says Mark Duffy of Digiday.  Your ninja can’t stop this!

Join the robo-tussle

 

 

HOW TO GO NATIVE

Pinning down just what “native” means can be tricky. But we at Verso have seen concrete results in native units using images that suggest non-advertising content.

Get friendly with the native

 

 

WITHOUT ADS, MUCH SUBTRACTED

“Imagine if the advertising-supported ecosystem went away,” she said.

Linda Yaccarino, head of advertising sales for NBCUniversal, on what is needed to compete with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, in an era of declining ad revenue.

Identify the “real audience” . . . 

 

 

TREASURE ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

After a year of Facebook Live, the New York Times sees fewer views but more comments.

Engage.

Next to Now: December 9

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SELF SHUTTERS PRINT, GOES DIGITAL ONLY

Conde Nast’s Self is ending the print version of the magazine, and ramping up the digital brand. Media Post reports,

“Since 2014, Self’s single-copy sales dropped from 148,000 to 44,000. Circulation has dropped from just over 1.5 million to just under.

“Meanwhile, video viewership experienced triple digit growth compared to last year, according to Condé Nast. In September, Self.com broke previous traffic records with 5.3 million unique viewers, representing a 56% increase year-over-year.”

#self #print

2017 LOOKS TO BE THE YEAR INSTAGRAM GAINS GROUND OVER TWITTER

eMarketer’s survey of marketers suggests that 2017 will be the year more advertisers choose Instagram over Twitter:

“By 2017, the research firm forecasts, 74.2% of U.S. companies (or at least those with more than 100 employees) will use Instagram for marketing purposes — markedly more than the 66.2% that will be using Twitter.”

#instagram #twitter #social

MARKETERS NEED TO BE ON SNAPCHAT. THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S EASY.

The case for using Snapchat to reach 18-24 year olds is clear:

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That makes the platform a great place to experiment reaching this age group, but as this tale “from the trenches” of a recent Ben & Jerry’s geo-filter campaign shows, it’s not the place if you’re looking for flawless execution.

#snapchat

SNAPCHAT INNOVATIONS

Digiday reports on the Snapchat campaign run by Birch Box: By using vanity urls, Birch Box was able to sell direct to its highly engaged Snapchat fan base and measure the results. It’s a model of a scrappy direct response campaign on an emerging platform.

#snapchat

NATIVE ADVERTISING TILTS TOWARD SOCIAL

MediaPost reports that advertisers and agency executives are looking to run more native advertising in 2017, with more going toward social (and more of social going to Facebook) than traditional sites such as NYTimes.com and BuzzFeed.

#native

FACEBOOK’S “DEDICATED MEDIA” TAB A HIT WITH MEDIA BUYERS

We’re not sure how consumers will feel about it, but Digiday reports that agencies love it:

“The company has been testing out a dedicated video tab inside its mobile app among a small group of users over the past year, as it aims to make video a more integral part of its mobile offering. The tab appears on its bottom menu alongside the notifications, timeline, marketplace and settings tabs, and opens up into a separate video hub, delivering a feed of live videos and other video content based on a user’s subscriptions or interests.

“For media analysts and media buyers, the dedicated video vertical firmly equips Facebook to grab more ad dollars from TV.”

Matt Heindl, director of social media at Razorfish, doesn’t think TV has anything to worry about in the near future, but Snapchat and YouTube? Yes, they might want to start to worry.

#facebook #video

TOP APPS

In a post on the continued growth of streaming music services such as Pandora and iHeartRadio, eMarketer reports that Pandora is the ninth most popular app of all, and the #1 most popular after various Facebook and Google apps. Here’s a chart that lists the top fifteen most popular apps according to comScore:

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In the continued Pandora or Spotify debate, it’s worth noting Pandora’s dominance in the app category.

#music #pandora #apps

Next to Now for November 4

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PUBLISHERS RETHINK TABOOLA AND OUTBRAIN

They were supposed to be the next big thing in advertising: a kind of native advertising you could book and run programmatically. But the New York Times reports that those “Promoted Stories” style ads with rows of photos and links beneath articles are falling out of favor. While we’re fans of native advertising when it’s executed with an authentic voice, real content affinity, and true transparency, we’re not big fans of “native programmatic”—a concept that seems like an oxymoron at best. As readers continue to complain and high end website continue to notice how poorly click-bait headlines look on their pages, we expect to see less of this kind of advertising going forward.

#programmatic #native

 

IS “PROGRAMMATIC” DEAD?

OK, that headline is a little click-baity. Programmatic is livelier than ever, responsible for as much as 89% of overall banner ad  buying by some counts. The question is really: has the word “programmatic” out-lived its usefulness? This “Op-Ed” by 360i’s Kolin Kleveno argues that the term is being used so frequently that it’s becoming meaningless. He argues that the true use of the term should point to two factors in a campaign—data-driven and automated—but it’s being bandied about by every ad tech vendor under the sun. That said, even if we limit the term to those two factors,it doesn’t narrow usage down much these days. With everything from applying an optimization algorithm to running ads in emails only when they’re opened, what’s *not* data driven and automated?

#programmatic

 

REDDIT UPS ITS AD OPTIONS

Reddit, the online community of communities, is introducing a new ad option that lets advertisers target users by the groups they frequent most. As Reddit is a passionate community, this is a great way to target users by interest. Because many Reddit users are also outspokenly anti-advertising, the company is wisely providing an “opt-out” option for all users. No advertiser wants to launch their product in the face of someone who would likely turn around and trash the product, just because it’s being advertised to him or her.

http://digiday.com/agencies/op-ed-time-retire-term-programmatic/

#reddit

 

RADIO STILL RULES

A post on eMarketer suggests that listeners still turn to radio for music, followed by owned music, and then by streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify. While radio doesn’t offer the campaign metrics of streaming services, it remains a great way to reach a broad and engaged group of people.

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#streaming #audio #radio

 

INSTAGRAM V. SNAPCHAT

Instagram and Snapchat are the two most popular apps for Millennials and Gen Z. But how do they fare mano a mano? Adweek compares the two based on polling and finds that they’re neck and neck. Instagram doing a little bit better with ad recall, but Snapchat ahead by a nose in quality of features and perceived “coolness.”

#instagram #snapchat #millennials

 

HOW DO SILICON VALLEY DIGITAL DARLINGS MAKE A STATEMENT?

In print. Just saying.

#slack #apple #microsoft #print

 

BUT PRINT IS GOING TO NEED A LOT MORE STATEMENTS . . . AND QUICK

Columbia Journalism Review points to the massive decline in print ad revenue at major papers such as The Wall Street Journal—and how we’re seeing the real effects of those declines now.

#cjr #wsj #print

 

photo (c) 2016 Martha Otis

Next to Now for July 28

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NATIVE ADVERTISING BEST PRACTICES

Smart, clever, informative native ads are one of the most exciting growth areas in advertising. Digiday walks us through the process that has brought significant improvement to Slate’s native efforts. In addition to bringing a more Slate-style voice to the content, the new native ads are more transparent about the sponsorship. This is very important point with native advertising, and it’s worth underscoring: don’t try to trick the reader, be upfront about your sponsorship and s/he will be more open to the content of what you’re saying:

“Most people spend their time trying to avoid ads, but Slate found that on its more explicitly labeled ads, the click-through rates were three times higher than the previous units (though Slate wouldn’t disclose the CTR). The publisher also contends that average time spent on the new units doubled, to 4 minutes, 15 seconds.”

#native #slate #transparency

 

SPOTIFY INTRODUCES PROGRAMMATIC

With over 100 million users worldwide, Spotify is the leader in a battle for listeners among Pandora and Apple Music. As advertisers, we have found that Pandora’s deep sets of user data and targeting mechanisms, not to mention their flexibility on price, has made them our go-to for book advertising. But with Spotify’s latest announcement, it might be time to reconsider Spotify for book ads. As reported in Adweek:

“The music streaming service announced today it will start offering programmatic advertising for the 70 million people using the free version of its platform. The Swedish company launched private marketplaces in partnership with AppNexus, Rubicon Project and The Trade Desk for buying both 15- and 30-second audio spots.”

More good options are always better for book advertisers. We are happy to have some new ways to target the Spotify audience.

#spotify #streaming #audio

 

HOW TO CATCH THE WAVE OF “SURGING NEWS”

The Guardian debuts a “surge news” ad product that’s similar to surge products from the New York Times and Washington Post. Given that surging news could be everything from the weather to a terrorist attack, it’s good that they are allowing advertisers to set keywords for any topics they don’t want to appear against. But for the right title, it could be a great way to be adjacent to the most relevant stories of the moment.

#targeting #guardian

 

WIRED ON NEWSLETTERS

The long tail of the weird, the wild,  the passionate, the hand-made is alive and well on emails thanks to services like Tiny Letter. With 100% opt in subscribers and open rates greater than 70%, these are audiences advertisers should reach for niche products—and there’s non nichier than most books. In the old days of the Internet we reached this audience via blogs through channels including the Verso Reader Channels. Now we get them via emails.

#emails

 

Hudson riverfront photo (c) 2016 Tom Thompson

Next to Now for July 21

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PREMIUM WEBSITE ADS PERFORM BETTER

A new study from ComScore underlines that ads on premium websites—such as the New York Times, WSJ, and various imprints of Condé Nast and Hearst media—deliver better results than ads on non-premium websites. From the Wall Street Journal article on this report:

“The study, which comScore said analyzed the ad campaigns of 15 large brands across a number of advertiser categories, concluded that ads placed on DCN sites were 67% more effective than non-DCN sites. According to comScore, that difference confirmed that ‘premium sites deliver premium performance.’

“The study also found that premium publisher sites were more effective in driving so-called ‘mid-funnel brand metrics,’ which measure consumer attitudes including favorability, consideration and intent to recommend.

“’The primary driver of this increased effectiveness is the halo effect that comes from the value of the contextual environment in which these ads are seen,” the report concluded. Basically, ads perform better when they appear alongside high-quality content.”

This is a value-proposition inherent in the way ads on premium websites are priced—with CPMs often 2-3x as expensive as non-premium sites—and matches with results we see at Verso. But it’s good to have more data backing up our observations.

Here’s a link to more detail from report from AdWeek. And here’s Niemen Lab’s take on the same study. 

#targeting #data #performance #ripepeachestastebest

 

GOOGLE ADDS NATIVE TO PROGRAMMATIC TOOLS

Google announced that it now can deliver native ads programmatically. The best performing native ads are those that are crafted in the unique voice of a particular website, and that ability is still beyond the reach of Google’s system. But adjusting headline and copy to each website’s particular style is a decent, and more affordable second option.

#native #programmatic #google #everypeachisdifferent

 

PRIME DAY BEYOND AMAZON

Amazon’s Prime Day was discussed (and dissed) as an expression of the company’s power, which it was . . . But that doesn’t mean the news was all bad for smaller retailers who took advantage of the “deal hunting” in the communal air to up their own business. In a study of last year’s Prime Day, BloomReach found that traffic to other retailers was up 21% and conversion improved by an average of 57% as a result of Prime Day. It’s a form of the real estate adage, “location location location.” Put your business where the action is, and use the wind as it is (even if you don’t like the source of the hot air) to power your boat.

#primeday #amazon #local #localpeaches

 

SPONSORED LOCATIONS IN POKEMON GO

You knew this was coming, right? Pokemon Go is introducing “Sponsored Locations,” a new revenue stream for Niantic, the maker of the app, and a good idea for marketers, especially if they’re a bricks and mortar retail store . . . or a company that sells its products there.

#pokemongo #geotargeting #peacheeoto

 

THE END OF LANDSCAPE VIDEO?

After Snapchat has declared the rise of vertical video, a new report suggests square video is not only the format needed for Instagram, it’s also proving to be the best performing format for video on Facebook in several head-to-head tests:

“For the past several months, we have started shooting videos for square crop and posting videos in square crop,” said Jason Stein, founder and CEO of Laundry Service. “We are doing this because in executing the media buys for these videos, we found that view-through rate and engagement rate are much higher on square than landscape videos. This is likely due to the larger amount of real estate that a square video gets in feed.”

#video #creative #uprightpeaches

 

CROWDSOURCED AD DELIVERY

A new company called Wrapify is allowing any car owner to let their car become a trackable, digitally connected, moving billboard. Spotify and PetCo are advertisers who have tested the technology for their own products. Here’s a link to the AdWeek story.

#digital #outdoor #peachesforeveryone

 

Photo: Peaches from Union Sq Greenmarket (c) 2016 Martha Otis

Next to Now: The News from SXSWi, Influencer Marketing & More

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Spring 2016 unfolds with exciting new marketing platforms, a digital shout-out for an old but effective ad platform, new developments in looking at what readers want and more . . .

 

 

SXSW INTERACTIVE

Adweek points to the hot topics at the recently concluded SXSWi, and they’re not a surprise, but they do underscore areas all marketers need to be aware of as they develop on the near horizon: Messaging, VR, Snapchat.

#messaging #vr #snapchat

 

MICRO-INFLUENCERS FTW

Gnack, a start-up announced at SXSW is experimenting with ways to make labor-intensive influencer marketing work on a programmatic platform. They’re starting with micro-influencers, those with no more than 10,000 followers—the kinds of influencers, that is, that are more friendly to book budgets.

#influencer #programmatic

 

APPLE’S ENTRY INTO NATIVE ADS

Apple News is developing a native ad product, worth watching for:

“Apple News will be updated as part of the latest version of iOS, expected to be released next week. Eddy Cue, the Apple executive in charge of online services, told The Wall Street Journal that 40 million people had used the Apple News app in January.”

#apple #news #native

 

HERE COMES THE READER DATA! BUT WHICH READERS?

Everyone in publishing wants to get data on how people read—at least to get information as good as what Amazon and Apple have via Kindle and iBooks. For that reason we applaud Jellybooks’ efforts to democratize this data and read the New York Times article on their presentation at DBW with interest. But there are big limitations with the data collected here. Jellybooks only counts readers reading on special e-readers, who have sought out the Jellybooks platform, read whatever few e-books are available there, and then agree to share the specifics of their reading habits for that particular book. This is a very different kind of person from the avid book buyer who buys, reads, and buys more copies, often in print.

#data #readers

 

VIDEO HABITS OF MILLENNIALS

An infographic on Adweek provides great insight into the video watching habits of millennials (as well as which video ads are OK with them, and which are not). Top three video watching sources are YouTube (85%), Netflix (66%), and Facebook (53%).

#video #millennials

 

IN PRAISE OF THE BILLBOARD

From Digiday, a little rant in favor of the ultimate non-digital advertising product:  

“These days, billboards are viewed as, mostly, for local businesses only. Bull. Brands, if you took just a small part of your worthless social media budget and put up one billboard in a high-visibility spot, you’d see some big-ass ROI in awareness and sales.”

#outdoor

TARGETING

Ad targeting that relies on user profiling makes many users uncomfortable, and not just tinfoil-hatted privacy advocates. But it turns out that people also hate seeing ads that aren’t right for them. The younger the user the more s/he is likely to expect ads that are better targeted.

#targeting

 

 

Next to Now: Trying to Chart New Oceans of Data & More

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PODCASTS CONTINUE TO GROW

Digiday has an interesting article about the evolution of podcasts and the need for improved measurement. Measurement is still not there yet—even the link within the article to NPR’s proposed measurement guidelines is broken. But we expect it to happen. Fun fact from this article: NPR is working on a podcast that’s like RadioLab, but for the Supreme Court.

#podcast

 

PODCASTS GOING NATIVE?

While news and sports podcasts still dominate the top 10 most popular podcasts in the iTunes store, fashion bloggers are discovering the effectiveness of the podcast platform, and are expanding the ways sponsored content is integrated into popular podcasts.

#podcasts #native #fashion

 

BUZZFEED BETS BIG

Digiday writes about the strengths and challenges of the modern-day master of the cat video, Buzzfeed:

“BuzzFeed has mastered the art of distributed publishing, using platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and others to amass massive audience attention. The publisher boasts a mind-boggling 5 billion views per month of its articles and videos, spread out across 30 platforms, from Facebook to Pinterest to Snapchat. In a month it does 3 billion video views, less than 5 percent of which are on BuzzFeed.com. The bet is simple: publish content where people are, rather than forcing them to come to you.”

They’re the player to beat in this space, but wake us up when their minimum spend dips below six figures.

#native #buzzfeed

 

POP SUGAR MOVING AWAY FROM BANNER ADS

Pop Sugar’s Brian Sugar is going all in with native and affiliate marketing.   

#mobile #native

 

VIDEO DIDN’T KILL THE RADIO STAR, AND TABLETS HAVEN’T KILLED THE EREADER

eMarketer notes that eReaders continue to sell, especially with the 65+ age demo.

#ereaders #devices

 

BILLBOARDS ARE WATCHING YOU

As advertisers we have watched the continual evolution of billboards as they develop digital chops not just to display creative, but also to target users in their vicinity through geo-fencing app networks. Now, a New York Times article notes that billboards technology is able to track user information beyond mere app targeting to give you demographic information about foot traffic that is encountering your out-of-home ad.

Business Insider follows up with an article that goes into the objections and fears about this kind of tracking.

#billboards #digital #outdoor

 

SNAPCHAT EXPANDS AUDIENCE INFORMATION

New deals with Nielsen and Sizmek are allowing Snapchat to learn more about ad performance and audience measurement.

#snapchat #audience #data #targeting

 

NEXT TO NOW: HALLOWEEN EDITION

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The scariest  thing to advertisers this Halloween might just be ad blocking software. Never fear, we know how to make sure your ads are seen. Between new ad units, native options, social outreach, and possible deals with ad blockers, we’re always looking to stay ahead of the trends—and always on the lookout for the most effective ways to let readers know about great books. Here’s some of what we’ve been reading about this week:

AN OLIVE BRANCH FROM AD BLOCKERS?

One of the leading ad blocking apps, Adblock Plus, is offering websites and advertising agencies the opportunity to whitelist certain sites and ad-types. While representatives from the Washington Post and MediaCom are attending a meeting with Adblock Plus to discuss the plans, Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a publishing trade organization with members from The New York Times, Vox Media and Condé Nast, declined the offer. Here’s why:

“I would look at these reports on [Adblock Plus’ parent company] Eyeo’s business model and their focus on consumers much differently if they were 100 percent open about it. If Adblock Plus publicly stated which companies were paying them for whitelisting ads and the terms under which this was happening, then my level of trust would increase dramatically.”

#adtech #adblocking #media

 

YELP PHASING OUT DISPLAY ADVERTISING

…and phasing in native advertising.

#native #media

 

NEXT STOP SMELLOVISION?

Stoli Vodka is using haptic technology to give their mobile ads a tactile edge: you can feel a buzz when the women in the ad makes a vodka in a shaker (and, less appetizing, when a dog pees).

#adtech #creative

 

IS FLIPBOARD IN TROUBLE?

Whether it’s due to the natural aging process of a formerly hot start-up that’s getting on in years, or the competition from Apple’s News app and others, this Bloomberg article points to some problems Flipboard is having. (On the upside for advertisers, ad rates are coming down!).

#adtech #flipboard #media

 

A BUYER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL NETWORKS

AdWeek outlines the basic differentiators for ad buyers between the eight major social networks from large (Facebook) to small (Whisper).

#social #facebook #twitter #instagram #media

 

FACEBOOK LEAD ADS OPEN UP TO ALL ADVERTISERS

Lead ads make it easy to customize information you’re getting from Facebook users: whether it’s letting them sign up for emails, events, webinars or more.  

#social #adtech #newunit #media

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES LAB SAYS THE FUTURE OF NEWS IS NOT THE ARTICLE

They are experimenting with ways “to leverage the knowledge that is inside every article.”

#futureofnews via Only Dead Fish – 

#nyt #futureofnews

 

DOES FACEBOOK HAVE AN AD MEASUREMENT PROBLEM?

Group M’s Rob Norman thinks online video has a ways to go before it can compete with TV:

“Both Google’s YouTube and Facebook boast incredible video numbers. Yet for all the ad dollars flowing to both platforms, they won’t start to get a piece of TV budgets until there’s a common way to measure the effectiveness of video ads, which are often viewed fleetingly and with the sound off, against a TV commercial exposure.”

#video #social #facebook #media

 

INSTAGRAM’S BOOMERANG

Instagram enables animated .gifs backwards and forwards with Boomerang.

#social #instagram #creative