How can Advertising Survive in an Ad Blocking World?

This post was co-written by Cara Covarrubias

It’s been less than a month since Google released its ad blocking update to comply with ad standards outlined by the Coalition for Better Ads. While it’s understood within the ad industry why the changes were made, it can leave an advertiser wondering what other formats they can leverage that are still very effective yet compliant with the coalition’s new standards. One of the reasons for this is that many of the ads that are deemed noncompliant by the coalition (due to being intrusive) are also ads that have been proven to be very effective for advertisers in the past. Ironically, ads being interruptive are the second most cited reason for internet users downloading ad blockers.

Intrusive Desktop Ads As Set by the Coalition for Better Ads

If you work as an advertiser, publisher, or maybe even a marketer, the ad blocking update probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you. What might come as a surprise is Google’s intention to block all ads on a website even if just a few noncompliant ads are served instead of just blocking the condemned ones. What’s certain, however, is that publishers and advertisers alike will be forced to comply with the standards set forth by the Coalition for Better Ads. After all, what publisher would want to sacrifice generating revenue by having all ads on their site blocked for running just a few noncompliant ads?

Ad Blocking on the Rise

Over the past few years, the number of ad blocker installs has steadily increased. By the end of 2018, an estimated 30% of internet users will download an adblocker, on mobile that number drops to 15% but it’s a number that’s slowly increasing. Banner blindness is rampant and these days ads are often seen as a nuisance or something that gets in the way of users consuming content. In response, advertisers and publishers have tried to combat ad blindness with more prominent ads to try and catch people’s attention – pop-up ads, ads with sound, ads that can only be closed after a certain amount of time, etc. These are the very ads that have prompted millions to download ad blockers, and therefore are the ones blocked by the new standards.

The problem with this, of course, is that ad blockers prevent publishers from generating the revenue that they need to be able to publish their content. If we want to maintain the accessibility of quality online content, ads are indeed a necessity. So how do we prevent this never ending cycle of banner blindness, intrusive ads, and ad blocker installs from continuing?

From the consumer perspective, the frustration with advertising and the desire to install ad blocking technology is understandable. Most of us can recall a time when an online experience was interrupted by either a pop-up ad or clickbait that was difficult to exit without clicking on the ad itself. At the same time, because we work in the ad industry, we avoid downloading ad blockers as we know the benefits of advertising and understand the need for it as well. Advertising subsidizes the very content we consume, while also having additional positive attributes. For starters, they help support our capitalistic economy, while making the public aware of products and services that might be of use to them. They also make consumers aware of the choices available to them and in some cases serve as forms of entertainment (case in point, the immense popularity of Super Bowl ads). Because of this, those of us who work in the ad industry, including brands and publishers, should take it as our responsibility to create ads that are relevant to the user, as well as improve their experience when online.

Intrusive Mobile Ads as Set by the Coalition for Better Ads

The question then is how can we still give user’s a good online experience without intruding? How can we leverage programmatic technology to serve consumers relevant, eye catching ads without ruining their online experience? What are ad formats that are considered to be effective yet nonintrusive?

The Answer: Immersive Ad Technology

With the ability to reach every smartphone, tablet or desktop, how do we break through the noise and actually stimulate ad engagement? The best weapon is immersive 360 VR advertising, and by that I don’t mean anything that requires a headset for viewing either.

The truth is that the advancements in 360 degree content and virtual reality (VR) in recent years have spawned new technologies that enable brands to use 360 degree content (with an optional VR functionality) in online display and video ads to reach consumers today. And I’m not referring to 360 degree videos you see on Facebook and YouTube. I’m referring to the ability to take your ordinary display ad unit or banner ad and turn it into an engaging ad that can include 360 video, 360 and even 2D images, interactive hotspots and so much more.

Immersive 360 VR ads are extremely effective at triggering ad engagement, especially if the 360 VR ad technology you’re using responds to device motion. For example, imagine you’re scrolling through a web page or app on your smartphone and while doing so you notice that as you move your device the ad responds to your movement (see 360 VR ad below). Natural human curiosity prompts most people to notice this immediately. We call this ad engagement trigger the “wiggle effect” and it typically results in at least 30% and upwards of 85% of consumers continuing to engage with the ad unit for a sustained period of time (sustained engagement).

For advertisers and publishers alike, immersive 360 VR display advertising is the solution to what ads are considered to be both effective and compliant under the Coalition for Better Ads mandate. 360 VR ads serve as a powerful new tool in the fight against banner blindness because they trigger engagement. What’s even more valuable, however, is their ability to sustain this engagement. Unlike traditional video ads in which the experience is, at most, passive where it’s difficult if not impossible in most cases to tell if the consumer even paid attention to the ad; with 360 VR ads you can actually measure the engagement because it’s active.

Furthermore, 360 content has also been shown to be more effective with content and brand recall – characteristics that are also of very high importance for advertisers. With 360 VR ads you can also track how long a consumer engaged with an ad, how they engaged, what they engaged with and so much more. In essence, immersive 360 VR ads are actually so much more than a new creative for the online / digital ad world, they’re essentially behavioral data collection vehicles that can ultimately lead to a better ad experience for consumers while empowering advertisers to serve more relevant and compelling ads. The goal ultimately, for my organization anyway, is to create and deploy the best ad technology so that ads are no longer seen as intruders but rather as welcomed visitors into the content consumption landscape. Only then will we see ad blocker usage start to decline and simultaneously increase the value of digital ads as a whole.