creative best practices: native ads

CREATIVE BEST PRACTICES: NATIVE ADSOctober 2015

Agenda:

1. Background

2. Objectives & Methodology

3. Creative Best Practices

Background

Source: Data is from the May 2016 BI Intelligence report titled "The Native Ad Report: Revenue Forecasts, Top Drivers, and the Rise of Sponsored

Content and Programmatic Native"

The Rise of Native

56%

61%65%

68%72%

74%

44%

39%35%

32%28%

26%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

% of Total Digital Display Ad Spending

Native

Traditional

Native Video is becoming more pervasive and effective

Source: Mixpo, Native Advertising Survey, September 30, 2014

Source: Jan 2016 Teads Study from Research Now

76%

24%Includes NativeVideo

Does not includeNative Video

US Publishers whose Native Advertising

Offering

includes Video

Types of Video Ads that are most intrusive

to

US Ad-Blocking users

25%

23%

53%

52%

Desktop

Mobile

Pre-Roll Native Video

Objectives & Methodology

METHODOLOGY

Native Ad Test In-lab Pre/Post Survey

A18-54 N=800

Native Video Ad Test Pre/Post Online Survey

A18-54 N=8,000

In-lab Eye-tracking Design

N=40

Delivers a precision measure of fixation

Fixations: are momentary pauses of the eye

within an area of Interest long enough for

cognitive processing to take place

OBJECTIVE

With the advent of a more cross-

channel, cross-device world, it’s

only fitting that advertising has

become more amorphous.

Enter native into the mix as the

advertising industry’s breakout star

this year.

We partnered with Nielsen to use the

insights collected in this study to

determine creative best practices

for this critical new advertising

format.

Creative Best Practices

BEST PRACTICES

People-Based Ads

People-based images deliver fixation on PC

and deep engagement & lower-funnel metrics

on mobile. Consider leveraging these types

of images in your native ads, especially

on mobile.

#1

LOW HIGH

ENGAGEMENT METRICS - MOBILE PERSON OBJECT

Fixation Percentage 71% 57%

Total Fixation (Seconds) 4.01 3.19

ENGAGEMENT METRICS - PC PERSON OBJECT

Fixation Percentage 70% 64%

BEST PRACTICES

People-Based Ads

CONT’D#1

+31%

+23%

+10%

+13%

BRAND FAMILIARITY

BRAND AFFINITY

PURCHASE INCREASE

RECOMMENDATION INCREASE

PERCENT DIFFERENCE: PERSON IMAGE VS. OBJECT IMAGE

BEST PRACTICES

Logo Presence

Don’t shy away from letting your logo shine in your native

advertising. Logo presence is very important, and larger

logos deliver recall, action, and longer fixation for your

ad on multiple platforms.

#2

Increase in Fixation Logo vs. No Logo

PC +10%

Mobile +25%

LOW HIGH

LOGO NO LOGO

BEST PRACTICES

Logo Presence

CONT’D#2

BIG

SMALL

PERCENT DIFFERENCE: BIG VS SMALL LOGO

Aided Recall +10%

Purchase Increase +22%

Click Intent +19%

Share Intent +13%

LOW HIGH

BEST PRACTICES

MOBILE

PC

+16%

AIDED RECALL, +6%

+27%

+44%

Logo Presence – Native Video

When considering what image to use in the opening frame of your native video ad, brand logos

are more effective than images of people or products.

% INCREASE: LOGO vs. IMAGE

ENJOYMENT

MESSAGE RECALL

MESSAGE RECALL

LOGO

IMAGE

CONT’D#2

BEST PRACTICES #3

Brand Mentions

LOW HIGH

Brand mentions do not have the same impact as logos, but

are still important to include in the headline of your

native ad, especially with static image ads.

BEST PRACTICES

Brand Mentions

CONT’D#3

Percent Difference on Static Image Ads: Brand in Headline vs. No Brand in Headline

Aided Recall +24%

Purchase Increase +11%

Recommendation Increase +14%

TIP

In Native advertising, brand

mentions in the body of the

text do not provide

significant changes to brand

metrics.

NO NEED FOR BRAND MENTIONS

IN BODY OF TEXT

BEST PRACTICES

Pay Attention to Labels

#4

Use a “$” as a label of transparency for

native mobile ads with a direct call to action

like an app install ad.

LO

WH

IGH

BEST PRACTICES


CONT’D#4

+16%

+33%

+12%

AFFINITY

INCREASE

CLICK

INTENT

SHARE

INTENT

PERCENT DIFFERENCE: $ VS. SPONSORED

TOTAL FIXATION DURATION (SECONDS)

SECONDS

6.45SECONDS

3.15

BEST PRACTICES


Being new to market, native video units benefit from a clearer

label. In this case the word “sponsored” leads to increased

recall, familiarity, and interaction on all platforms.

CONT’D#4

BEST PRACTICES


23%

15%

65%

47%

AIDED RECALL

FAMILIARITY INCREASE

SPONSORED

$

SPONSORED

$

TIP

Users are more likely to interact* with native video

units with a clear “sponsored” label.

*interactions include un-muting video and expanding

the video

CONT’D#4

BEST PRACTICES

15 Second Native Video Ads

#5

:15 native video ads drive greater recall and purchase

intent than longer video units, following the trend seen in

general video advertising.

VS:15 :30

BEST PRACTICES


:15 ads are just right when it comes to ad length in native video units. 15’s are still

perceived to be the “correct” ad length, while 60 seconds felt too long and 10 seconds felt

too short to consumers.

AD LENGTH

10 second ads “too short” 14%

15 second ads “just right” in length

86%

60 second ads “too long” 33%

:10 :15 :60

CONT’D#5

BEST PRACTICES


CONT’D#5

+11%

+28%

+25%

AIDED

RECALL

PURCHASE

INCREASE

RECOMMENDATION

INCREASE

PERCENT DIFFERENCE: :15 VS. :30

TIP

Consumers were more likely to fixate on :15

ads on both PC and mobile.

FIXATION PERCENTAGE PC MOBILE

15 Seconds 65% 90%

30 Seconds 59% 67%

BEST PRACTICES

10 Second Ads Drive Traffic

However, message recall was significantly lower for :10 ads, indicating that 10 seconds is

not enough time to absorb an ad’s messaging, but is sufficient enough to drive a user to

click-thru to an advertiser’s site.

% INCREASE: CTR FOR :10 vs. OTHER LENGTHS

:15 :30 :60

4%17%

56%

CONT’D#6

BEST PRACTICES

Don't be afraid to leverage auto-start ads when it comes to

native, as it drives increases in brand affinity and

outperforms user-initiated ads in recall and fixation.

Auto Start Video

#7

AUTOPLAY 3 Seconds

7 Seconds

USER INITIATED 3 Seconds

7 Seconds

BEST PRACTICES

Auto Start Video

LOW HIGH

Percent difference: Auto-start vs. User-initiated

Aided Recall +51%

Brand Familiarity +10%

Brand Affinity +4%

CONT’D#7

BEST PRACTICES

Professional Video Ads

Produce professional video ads as they outperform Amateur videos across all generations and

devices.

#8

AMATEURPROFESSIONAL

% INCREASE:

PROFESSIONAL vs.

AMATEUR

PC MOBILE

Brand Familiarity Increase +45% +36%

Brand Recommendation Increase +8% +19%

Message Recall +450% +120%

BEST PRACTICES

Professional Video Ads

Produce professional video ads as they outperform Amateur videos across all generations and

devices.

% INCREASE:

PROFESSIONAL vs.

AMATEUR

MILLENNIALS GEN-X

Brand Familiarity Increase +28% +42%

Brand Recommendation Increase +10% +15%

Message Recall +10% +12%

AMATEURPROFESSIONAL

CONT’D #8

BEST PRACTICES

Closed Captioning

Encourage users to activate Closed Captioning in order to achieve maximum recall of your

ad’s messaging, either via

#9

CC

Message Recall was

60% higher for those exposed

to closed captioning.

TIP

One way to encourage the user is by

including it as a CTA in the copy of the

native ad.

BEST PRACTICES

Closed Captioning

Encourage users to activate Closed Captioning in order to achieve maximum recall of your

ad’s messaging.

CONT’D #9

Closed Captions are even more

critical on Mobile as

consumers are not as likely

to un-mute videos as on PC.

PC

MOBILE

% INCREASE:

LIKELIHOOD TO UNMUTE:

CC vs. NO CC

+6%

+15%

BEST PRACTICES

“More” On Mobile

Ensure that you have a seamless mobile experience in place

for the consumer post-click, as users tend to fixate on the

“more” button.

#10

LOW HIGH

THE LIST

BEST PRACTICE #1

Leverage people-based images in your native ads,

especially on mobile.

BEST PRACTICE #6

To drive traffic to your site, use 10-second

native video ads as there is a bias towards

action for shorter ads.

BEST PRACTICE #2

Don’t shy away from letting your logo shine in

your native advertising, and the larger the logo

the better.

BEST PRACTICE #7

Don’t be afraid to leverage auto-start ads when

it comes to native, as it drives a slight

increase in brand affinity and outperforms user-

initiated ads in recall and fixation.

BEST PRACTICE #3

Brand mentions do not have the same impact as logos, but are still

important to include in the headline of your native ad.

BEST PRACTICE #8

Produce professional video ads as they

outperform Amateur videos across all generations

and devices.

BEST PRACTICE #4

When it comes to labels, its better safe than

sorry. Include clear labels of transparency,

but its clear that as native units become more

pervasive, consumers are becoming more

permissive.

BEST PRACTICE #9

Encourage users to activate Closed Captioning in

order to achieve maximum recall of your ad’s

messaging.

BEST PRACTICE #5

No need to create too many ad lengths, :15

native video ads are the preferred ad length for

native video units.

BEST PRACTICE #10

Ensure that you have a seamless mobile

experience in place for the consumer post-click,

as users tend to fixate on the “more” button.

Thank you!

For more information go to:advertising.yahoo.com

or contact me at: [email protected]@diudica on Twitter

creative best practices: native ads

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