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Contextual Ads Demystified
StumbleUponDale Lovell explores the myths and benefits of contextual advertising, the online ad medium set to change the way we search online...
Contextual advertising, the online ad medium, is set to change the way we search online. But to get the edge we must sift the myths from the benefits...By Dale Lovell
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Contextual advertising works from software users download to their PC. Users are encouraged to download the software by a combination of money-off coupons, viral applications such as emoticons, free software and user-only special offers. The added benefit being that users are then served ads relating to the sites they visit or search while they surf online.
For example, if you have downloaded the 'adware', as it is commonly referred to, and type a search with the keyword 'loan,' you will be served with a site from a relevant paying 'loan' advertiser before you are served with the results from your online search.
Relevant delivery
Relying on keywords and URLs, contextual advertising recognises users' immediate interests while they surf and search online, delivering contextually relevant offers.
Unlike other 'new' forms of online advertising, like sub-sites or the lesser effective subliminals (small sponsorship strips which 'float' across the top of the screen), there are no 'host' sites involved in contextual advertising, so the cost to the advertiser, especially when return on investment is analysed, remains relatively low.
Cost Per Click rates for contextual campaigns can be as low as 18p per click on certain keywords, which are considerably lower than similar keyword campaigns available through Espotting or Overture.
The UK market for adware is currently over a million users, with take up growing on average by 20,000 new users a month. With the continued increase in the number of internet users, combined with more experienced and sophisticated online users, the adware medium has the potential to grow considerably in the future.
But despite the obvious success of the medium, contextual advertising is failing to register with many media planning agencies. But, why?
Mistaken identity
Firstly, it is important to point out the difference between 'adware' and 'spyware', a clarification many media buyers seem reluctant, or unable, to make. Clarification is necessary to avoid writing off an advertising medium that puts advertisers in front of users at the exact moment they are looking for related products and services.
Although they are both downloaded software the similarities between adware and spyware end there.
Adware subscribers must accept an End User Licence Agreement before completing the download and the software can be removed from a computer at any time. Spyware, on the other hand, is installed without any explanation or warning, stores personal information and remains on the user's system when attempts are made to remove it.
While many of the medium’s detractors have written off adware as nothing more than spyware, fear of association with what 'traditional' media might term 'subversive' online marketing, is also responsible for the reluctance of some in the industry to embrace the medium.
But with conversion rates as high as 15% for many campaigns, reluctance could prove damaging. Companies such as FirstPlus, Bupa, MoreThan and Yes Car Credit have already embraced adware because they can see tangible results and increased click-through rates from their investment.
But there are other advantages to contextual advertising, which are as equally beneficial as high conversion rates.
Youth without prejudice
If you consider that the Holy Grail for many online campaigns is to target young, intelligent and affluent consumers, the average subscribers of contextual adware are young, affluent professionals, making the medium an attractive proposition for anyone hoping to target this demographic online.
Also, young ABC1 adware subscribers have no qualms about buying online. They have the money and the inclination to buy online, making them one of the most enviable demographics to target, especially when you take into account the fact that Contextual campaigns put people looking for certain goods and services in direct contact with paid for advertising.
As long as search continues to remain the most popular way we navigate the web demand for contextual campaigns – from users and advertisers - will undoubtedly continue to grow.
Instead of being viewed as an intrusive form of 'spyware', corrupting hard-drives and becoming impossible to remove, adware, which anticipates what you are looking for as you search the internet could become as indispensable to web savvy internet users as Google currently is. Before that can take place, agencies and advertisers must embrace the medium and become aware of adware’s unique potential.
For more information visit: www.utarget.co.uk
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About the Author:
Dale Lovell is Content Manager at UT Target and also writes in an individual capacity on New Media topics. For more information visit Dale's blog http://mediamule.blogspot.com
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