Banner ads -- blech. That seemed to be the consensus from a round-up of early banner ad creators and adopters convened recently by Digiday, who lamented that banner ads today represent "nothing but eye candy on the page" and "a race to the bottom." And those were the nicer comments! Is there a better way?
Would Don Draper have "hated banner ads," as Buzzfeed's Jonah Peretti says? Probably, but as much as the trend right now is native ads and sponsored content, scalability makes it unlikely that banner ads, or the larger category of display advertising, will be completely eliminated.
Display advertising is still huge, particularly with respect to mobile.
And marketers will tell you that banner ads work, because the minuscule click-through-rates really aren't a measurement of their effectiveness, and display should be just one part of a campaign anyway.
But the days of the 486x60 pasted blindly across hundreds of sites? Yeah, that's probably over. In their place, we'll see more creative engagement ads, and, with increased targeting ability, more relevant ads. And definitely more video. Those little boxes and banners might not be such an eyesore anymore.
Find out more in the latest episode of The Content Brief from Freshwire below.
Plus, in our Venture Stars segment, one company is giving us a possible glimpse into the future, allowing consumes to try on virtual sunglasses with a 3D scan of your face to see which pair look best.
If you missed our take on HBO and the future of online viewing, check it out here. And don't forget to visit our new site to keep up on the world of content, online branding and digital marketing: The Content Brief.