The Power of Display Advertising
Display advertising is in rude health. The first eight months of 2008 (up to the end of August) saw over 250,000 display advertising campaigns run in Europe, by over 60,000 different advertisers.
Since the beginning of the year, acknowledging a seasonality factor, pretty much every Western European country has experienced a growth in the number of advertisers running display campaigns during the course of the month. This is particularly the case in the Nordic countries where Norway almost doubled (88%) the number of display advertisers from 766 in January 2008 to 1,439 in September 2008. Sweden experienced an 85% growth from 923 to 1,711 whilst Denmark went from 895 to 1,434 – a 60% increase.
The larger markets also saw strong growth, the UK and Germany both experiencing growth of just under a third from around 4,500 in January to around 6,000 display advertisers in September. In comparison, France increased by 31% and Spain by an impressive 66%.
Display has come a long way from the days of static banners and advertisers are becoming increasingly creative in their execution. Animation (such as flash) and interactive technologies (being able to select options in the ad before clicking on it) as well as the inclusion of audio and video are becoming common and highlight the power of display advertising as a branding medium.
The latter point highlights the fact that online advertising isn’t all about search and direct response. Display is far more creative, engaging and interactive than search and can actually improve the performance of search when they are used in tandem as various studies, including those from Microsoft and Yahoo!, have shown.
Display is ‘interruptive’ and provides an alternative to search’s ‘anticipatory’ nature. In other words, search is great if a consumer decides to book a holiday, however, it requires that the consumer is in this mode of thinking. In contrast, display can generate that spark where it didn’t exist before; for example, someone reading a story on CNN might see an eye-catching flash banner from Expedia that reminds them to book a holiday, or, the offer is so enticing they think of booking a holiday they hadn’t planned to in the first place.
The power of display as a branding medium is well illustrated by the appearance of car manufacturers / brands as the second biggest display advertising sector in the UK, in terms of ad impressions. Car advertising online is rarely about direct response, yes the ‘call to action’ might be booking a test drive, but consumers don’t purchase cars online. For the automotive sector - one of the biggest global advertisers - online advertising is all about branding.
Mobile phone operators are the biggest display ad sector, racking up 3.3 billion ad impressions in the UK in 2008 up to the end of September. This sector is an extremely competitive one and whilst direct response through search is a relevant and heavily used online ad format, display is a vital branding weapon in the battle to differentiate and increase custom.
By Alex Burmaster | European Internet Analyst | Nielsen Online