Rich Media Usage And Click-Through Rates On The Rise

Rich media usage is up, click-through rates have rebounded, and targeting by content is the strategy of choice, according to DoubleClick Inc.'s First Quarter 2004 Ad Serving Trend Report.

The Report, released Tuesday, is based on aggregate data on more than 894 billion ads served globally since the first quarter of last year through the online marketing and technology firm's DART ad-serving product. The numbers show that 42.8 percent of all ads served in the first quarter of 2004 were rich media ads--up 54 percent from first quarter 2003. The company defines rich media as dynamic floating ads, pop-up ads, and those that feature Macromedia Flash. According to the report, 16.7 percent of all ads served were Flash-based, accounting for the largest percentage of rich media ads served by DoubleClick.

Remembering the once sparse rich media ad landscape, Greg Smith, head of national media practices at Carat Interactive, acknowledges the significant transition: "It wasn't that long ago when a lot of sites didn't accept rich media," he recalls. The click-through numbers should not be used as a benchmark for individual campaigns, cautions Kathryn Koegel, director of research and industry development at DoubleClick. "One giant advertiser can flood the market with a certain type of ad," she says, which could influence the aggregate rate. "This is an overall indication of what's going on in the industry as a whole," she explains.

View-through rates, or those that gauge the rate at which a particular action is performed within 30 days of ad exposure, held steady year-over-year at around 60 percent. However, since view-through rates hit .77 percent in Q3 2003 and .74 in Q4 of 2003, DoubleClick suggests that a seasonal pattern is emerging.

The report also reveals a wide disparity in the types of targeting that advertisers are employing to approach specific audiences. Although just 2 percent of all publisher-served ads were targeted by Internet Service Provider, domain, browser type, or operating system, and 4 percent used geographic targeting, 71.6 percent were targeted by content key word or key value.

Banners, although down 2.3 percent from Q4 2003, continue to dominate all other formats at 32 percent. Leaderboard units are gaining ground--usage of the extra-wide 728 x 90 ads that typically appear at the top of Web pages jumped over 1,300 percent since Q1 2003, and now encompass 8.6 percent of ads served by DoubleClick.

Carat's Smith chalks up the boost in leaderboard usage to the fact that "a lot more sites are using them more," adding: "Creatives like them ... bigger is better."

Large rectangular ads are also up to 4.6 percent of ads served, while usage of 250 x 250 squares, 240 x 400 rectangles, and 125 x 125 button units declined over the past year. Skyscrapers remained stable at around 9.8 percent.

This latest ad-serving report is the first in which DoubleClick has included interaction rates with its DART Motif rich media technology. Users interact with over 18 percent of Motif ads for an average of 30 seconds, according to the report. Banner units are displayed the longest by users (309 seconds on average); expanding units display for an average of 91 seconds; and floating units, 30 seconds.

"What we're doing is trying to determine how much interactivity is necessary to move the needle on key metrics such as brand awareness, purchase intent, and conversion," comments John Como, account director at True North Inc. "It will help us make creative decisions."

According to DoubleClick's Koegel, the ad tech firm is currently combining metrics including direct response, interaction, view-through, brand impact, and conversion rate to come to a broader understanding of what all these numbers mean to advertisers. "The first step is getting out there publicly and talking about what we're seeing," she stresses. "We understand that agencies need this guidance."

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