Commentary

Ad Spend Shifting To Content Marketing Because People Hate Everything Else

by Ben Frederick , Staff Writer, March 31, 2016

Ad blockers and declining ad effectiveness have forced marketers to switch tactics and focus more on real-time, owned and shared media. That change has brought a shift in strategy to content marketing, according to a report titled, “The Eclipse of Online Ads,” from Rebecca Lieb, funded by ScribbleLive.

It is estimated that since ad blockers have become popular, 12% of ads aren’t seen by humans, which amounts to about $18.5 billion wasted in spending. On top of that, most users have about 60% banner blindness, and are unable to recall any ads they’ve seen.

About 25% of smartphone users have concerns about the privacy of the data collected by smart devices, while only 20% believe that the benefits outweigh the risks of data collection.

Mobile is a different beast altogether for marketers: small screen sizes make establishing screen real estate difficult, while ads can eat into consumer’s data and drastically affect loading times.

Brands are being pulled into ever-more intimate relationships with their consumers, through the nature of mobile as a device, and through the data they are now collecting.

If a brand has a coherent strategy in place for its content, a well-budgeted marketing mix, and the ability to measure the specific outcomes it wants, it will stand up to scrutiny and attract the kinds of customers it wants.

If not, then a lot of money will likely go to waste trying to attract the attentions of fickle consumers.

content marketing, mobile

4 comments about "Ad Spend Shifting To Content Marketing Because People Hate Everything Else".

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kevin lee from Didit / eMarketing Association / Giving Forward, March 31, 2016 at 12:12 p.m.
It's DVRs/Tivo all over again. Earned media is great and can support paid social and SEO as well as paid search, but given the budgets allocated to advertising content or "native" can't possibly absorb all the marketing dollars currently pumped into paid advertising (regardless of format). So, alternatives may be hard to come by.
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Rebecca Lieb, March 31, 2016 at 12:27 p.m.

Many thanks for the coverage. The full report can be downloaded here:

bit.ly/1UtkuiJ

Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, March 31, 2016 at 9:11 p.m.

The only declining ad effectiveness is in digital due to ad blockers.

However TV and other traditional mediums are doing well. Still, there's a lot of money out there trying to convince is there's a problem so we will shift dollars to their magic solution - none of which are magic and none of which are solutions.

hence...content marketing. The Bait and Switch solution we are told is elegant and honors consumers. Yup, let's be dishonesty by telling them it's content then switch in that pitch for our products. Real classy advertising...

Claudio Marcus from FreeWheel, April 4, 2016 at 11:05 a.m.

Do most consumers really want "intimate relationships with their brands"? Maybe with a few, but I suspect most consumers will not be inticed into or reciprocate any sort of a love affair with brands. As such, it is likely that "money will likely go wasted trying to attract the attentions of fickle consumers." While many consumers may not like advertising, and it is their prerogative to skip or avoid ads, most do realize that ads help pay for the content and many are willing to live with this trade-off. It remains to be seen whether consumers prefer to be exposed to advertorials posing as content. Personally, I very much doubt it.