New research into consumer attitudes to content consumption on their digital devices shows that seven out of ten smartphone and tablet users (72 per cent) expect the same quality of content experience across all their digital devices. The research, conducted by leading in-content digital advertising company Vibrant Media, highlights the disparity between consumers’ expectations and […]
New research into consumer attitudes to content consumption on their digital devices shows that seven out of ten smartphone and tablet users (72 per cent) expect the same quality of content experience across all their digital devices.
The research, conducted by leading in-content digital advertising company Vibrant Media, highlights the disparity between consumers’ expectations and reality when consuming digital content.
The Association of Online Publishers estimates that one in every three page views comes from a mobile device. Despite consumers increasingly using their mobile to browse editorial, Vibrant Media’s new research shows that most owners of handheld devices – 81 per cent of smartphone users and 71 per cent of tablet users – still prefer to consume content on their desktop or laptop computers. The new data builds on Vibrant Media’s research from April 2013 (which showed that 68 per cent of the UK’s top print publications lack a digital site which renders effectively on mobile devices) to demonstrate consumer demand for publishers to provide an optimised content experience for all digital devices.
Tom Pepper, Managing Director UK of Vibrant Media, said, “Consumers now expect to consume content on their handheld devices just as comfortably as they do on their desktop and laptop computers – but don’t feel that publishers’ sites will match their expectations. A separate, fully optimised mobile site is not an absolute necessity to give consumers an effective mobile experience. Publishers just need to ensure that the editorial of their web sites renders effectively on handheld devices and start replacing desktop-only ad formats with much nimbler ads which work across desktops, laptops, tablets and the small screen format of smartphones.”
“Many publishers are still reliant on ad formats developed for desktop devices to serve consumers on handheld devices. These desktop-only formats often display as huge messages that obscure the editorial or so small they’re almost impossible to see. Such clumsy ad display is a big problem. It contributes to consumers preferring to consume content on a device other than their smartphone or tablet device, which in turn prevents publishers from realising the revenue they can gain from mobile traffic. It’s also a big problem for advertisers as over half of smartphone and tablet users (51 per cent) say they mostly initiate ads on their mobile devices by mistake.”
Vibrant’s new ad formats cater for the cross-platform consumer and sit nimbly and natively within contextually-relevant content whether displayed on desktops, laptops, smartphones or tablets. The suite consists of four units, Vibrant Mosaic, Vibrant Lightbox, Vibrant Image and Vibrant Storyboard, which was launched in August 2013. They have been designed to respond to each digital device, so once a user chooses to initiate one of the ad units, the optimum experience for the consumer’s device is automatically displayed. The formats deliver new controls to consumers, optimum viewability and brand consistency to advertisers, and enable publishers to generate effective revenue streams from mobile even if they do not have a dedicated mobile site.
Along with its new cross-platform capabilities, Vibrant Media has enhanced consumer control over digital ads with a new mechanic – the Brand Activated Keyword – which clearly informs consumers that an ad is present within digital editorial, as well as the specific brand that is advertising, before the consumer even chooses to launch an ad. The product suite reinforces Vibrant Media’s position as offering some of the most viewable, unobtrusive and consumer-centric ad formats in the digital advertising industry.
Methodology
Vibrant Media surveyed 1000 people across the UK. The survey was conducted by Toluna, one of the world’s leading online panel and survey-technology providers
www.vibrantmedia.co.uk
