Display advertising has been growing rapidly in recent years and is becoming more and more a part of the ongoing day to day marketing strategies across brands. While generally the main focus has been around getting the brand ‘out there’ and building awareness, we expect 2017 to delve much deeper and really deliver trackable ROI for online display advertising campaigns for brands whether it be online or offline.
1. Ad blocking… blocking our ads?
Ad blocking is set for continued growth in 2017 and according to a recent article from Forbes, this is most common in younger generations, ‘nearly two in three millennials report using ad block software.’
Developments are underway to focus on the user experience side of things in the hope to quash the ad blockers use from growth.
Which takes me to the next trend prediction…
2. Native ads become the preferred
Native ads are set to become the popular choice for advertisers with ad blocking on the increase. While native ads have been around for some time they are growing rapidly due to audiences becoming harder to grab the attention of with so many ads being out there now.
The native ads feature within the content that users are already engaged with or within social media feeds therefore appear less intrusive meaning audiences are more likely to connect and interact with these.
With these becoming more and more popular publishers are likely to develop and improve the offering of native ads giving more options to advertisers.
Although we see a future of native overtaking display ads, we would not expect to see these overtake paid search advertising as this currently makes up over 50% of online ad spend.
Native Ad
Image: Yorkshire Post
3. Cost of display ads set to increase
Online display advertising has been seen as a cost effective channel and for online brands a great platform that allows them to track ROI for their campaigns, particularly online, however according to a recent article from The Drum, there is set to be an increase of around 20% over a 12 month period for CPM’s.
While this will seem like a big jump for advertisers, Goodway Group (recently spoken to by The Drum) have suggested that the increase in cost is based around impressions rather than cost per outcome.
Targeted campaigns and managed budgets will be required to ensure brands are getting the best possible ROI on their advertising.
