Jim Daily is the US President of Teads, a native video advertising marketplace that shares a common obsession with premium publishers: user experience.
He believes solving the problem ad blockers pose to publisher revenues as they continue their meteoric rise is simple – native video advertising that provides the ability to skip messaging if individuals so wish.
So important is this to users, that in a study carried out in early 2016, Teads found that 80 percent would reconsider installing ad blockers altogether if the ad experience provided a choice to skip or close the ad.
Choice, it would appear, may increasingly bare weight in this existential crisis plaguing publishers that shows no signs of ceasing. It’s a stark reality, and raises imminent concerns for ad-funded media whose revenue pool is evaporating before their very eyes.
Some media outlets have opted for the solution of releasing a wall of anti-ad blocking pop-ups across their content at the start of this year. The messages employ a range of prompts, ranging from the humorous to the suggestive, informing users that their freeloading ways will no longer stand.
The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes opted for a polite approach. Time, Wired and Channel 4 meanwhile paint it as a necessary evil.
Nonetheless, for the vast majority of sites, users are forced to turn off ad blockers if they wish to continue reading content. This of course has worked with varying success. With results being suggestive of just how valuable brands are to readers.
“All we did was ask what everyone wants,” Daily said.
Teads charge advertisers based on a metric of, “cost per view,” or, “once somebody has watched the entirety of the ad with it on the screen without scrolling past it or hitting the skip button.”
The pieces come together to create a positive user experience and association with the brand. Native video advertising is a stark difference to the dreaded pre-roll.
“It [pre-rolls] is basically saying you have to watch my 30 second ad before you are able to get to the content you’d like to watch.”
“We firmly believe that the user experience is better if you give that user a choice. And then ultimately, the brand performance does better too. Because it is a user that has said I am interested in this brand I am interested in this product.”`
