eMarketer forecasts that globally mobile ad spend will reach $232.34 billion in 2019. Moreover, according to Statista, global mobile data traffic is projected to increase by nearly three times between 2018-2021, driven by increased consumer use of mobile phones and in particular, apps. In addition, 87% of mobile users spend the majority of their time in-app. 

Despite this, concerns about accurately measuring performance mean that many brands are reluctant to invest in in-app advertising. In the UK, due to apps’ technical imperfections or lack of proper tracking solution, many campaigns do not achieve the outcome from in-app retargeting they should. In fact, many cases show that in-app campaigns can bring even three-times higher conversion rates. With in-app traffic growing at such a rapid pace and e-commerce such a competitive sector, keeping up with consumer trends is vital to brand awareness and revenue generation. 

Mobile app vs mobile optimised website

Time spent in e-commerce apps reached 18 billion hours in 2018 globally, according to App Annie. Moreover, 85% of consumers favour apps over mobile websites, according to Compuware. Mobile apps provide consumers with features and functions that are impossible to build into mobile optimised websites. Firstly, apps run and upload faster compared to mobile websites. Secondly, access to apps only requires a single click. The ease of use of mobile apps that comes from these two simple factors means higher engagement rates compared to mobile optimised websites or desktop web viewing, and 100-300% higher conversion rates, according to TechCrunch. Furthermore, mobile app users complete the customer journey three times faster and see 4.2 times as many products compared to users from other channels, according to Bain & Co.

Mobile conversions – the real deal is coming our way

The good news is that as a result of advances in technology, the use of in-app advertising will grow by almost two-thirds (60%) in 2019, according to App Annie. However, there is scope to grow adoption further with the tactical adoption of in-app retargeting as opposed to more simplistic audience targeting. 

The e-commerce market is highly competitive, consumer expectations are high, and consumers are fickle. On average, apps are deleted within 5.8 days after the last use, according to Adjust, which analysed 8 billion app installs worldwide. Reasons for consumers deleting apps range from lack of mobile storage space, system failures, poor user experience, and lack of engagement. 

In order to capture and maintain consumers’ attention, and reduce the risk of rapid app fatigue, e-commerce brands need to evolve their approach to in-app advertising and create more personalised experiences, in much the same way as they do on desktop or mobile web. 

Don’t be afraid to change – integration is the easiest part

In the past, brands have steered away from using retargeting tools for in-app due to previous challenges with integration. Today’s developed retargeting technology companies have overcome challenges with integrations by creating bespoke integrations directly with suppliers and platforms as partners. 

In-app retargeting is often more effective than web retargeting. In fact, in-app retargeting follows similar principles of web retargeting: maintaining consumer engagement, reaches lapsed users, drives conversions and sales, and provides opportunities to serve personalised ads and relevant offers at the right moment. In addition, the same publisher information can be passed back, e.g. device ID, activity post-landing page, order value, meaning that the campaign can be optimised just as effectively too. 

Ultimately, there is no difference between mobile web retargeting and in-app retargeting, except the volume of consumers – which is higher for apps – and thus a wasted opportunity waiting to be taken.

The post In-App E-Commerce Advertising: Ignore it at Your Peril appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Brand safety is keeping CMOs up at night – eight in every 10 say that they are more concerned about brand safety than ever before, according to a study by Teads. One of the biggest brand safety issues that marketers face is the sheer amount of user-generated content online. Unlike traditional content publishers, there is very little to stop people from creating their own content portraying extremist views, fake news, and explicit content. It’s exactly this content that brands do not want their adverts to appear against.

Today, more than $628 billion in total digital ad spend worldwide is at stake and if brand safety issues are not tamed, the online advertising industry will crumble.

The extent of the problem

Social media is one of the areas suffering the most and marketers are voting with their budgets. Furthermore, Facebook has reacted with a decision to devalue media content within its news feed, which is a part of a bigger change in its algorithm and video strategy, hypothesised to be due to its own well-publicised brand safety woes. According to an Advertiser Perceptions and Oath study, 45% of advertisers think that social media sites do a bad job on brand safety, which is now a top concern among a vast majority (94%) of advertising decision-makers.

For example, in November 2017, The Times carried out an investigation that revealed: “some of the world’s biggest brands were advertising on YouTube videos showing scantily clad children that attracted comments from hundreds of paedophiles”.

Advertisers’ concerns about YouTube’s ability to protect brand safety have been so great that its ad revenue has plateaued during 2018 (+0.2% year-on-year), a time when video advertising across other platforms has thrived.

The brand safety trust crisis has opened up an opportunity for Instagram to monetise its new IGTV app which features high-quality, long-form video and take a large slice of the $10 million annual digital and mobile video ad spend.

A united front is needed

The brand safety issue cannot be solved by any one entity; it requires collaboration between brands, media agencies, ad tech companies, and industry bodies.

This year, the 4A’s and company executives from top global ad firms announced the formation of a new Advertiser Protection Bureau to tackle the escalating brand safety issues. The end goal is to develop the discussion around brand safety to a “more holistic view of what our responsibility is to consumers, to brands and each other because advertising assurance can’t happen if we’re not communicating and working together,” according to a statement by 4A’s president and CEO, Marla Kaplowitz.

Another global ad industry leader, GroupM, has specialist brand safety teams that “regularly contribute to industry committees, research and debates” and “actively promote and participate in industry standard-setting and self-regulation to create and uphold integrity.” Key actions include creating quality media environments, curbing ad misplacements alongside “fake news”, and espousing a proactive approach when ads are inappropriately placed.

Is AI really the answer?

Internet giant Google (and others) are using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology and deep learning and computer vision to avoid ad misplacements next to inappropriate or disturbing content. This approach is already helping car brands avoid placing ads next to news about a road crash or help companies to avoid ads placed on media sites with extreme points of view.

For example, Google unveiled a new ad unit for AdSense that helps to protect brand safety. It uses machine learning via its Auto Ads that automatically reads a page to instantly detect content and context, and place only the most suitable ads. According to Google, publishers can earn up to 10% more by using it.

RTB House uses natural language processing in its proprietary multi-layer brand safety platform. The algorithm provides rapid, comprehensive, and precise page level inspection and ad blocking. This includes scraping at the URL, article content, and metadata levels, before allowing ads to be placed on a page.

This enables brands to exclude specific content that is inappropriate e.g. automotive brands may want to avoid ad placement alongside articles about drinking alcohol but not necessarily alongside articles about windshield washer fluid mentioning this contains alcohol.

Many experts believe that advances in AI are the ad industry’s best bet to help solve the escalating brand safety crisis. While AI developments have shown to help identify and avoid showing ads on websites with inappropriate content, it remains to be seen if this is a viable, scalable, long-term solution. One of the biggest threats to the success of AI will be the ability of content creators to continually evolve how they mask inappropriate content.

The consumer effects

Almost three-quarters (70%) of consumers expect brands to curb the spread of fake news, and 68% state that brands should shield social media users from offensive content, according to the Trust Barometer social media study by Edleman. Consumers are already showing that they will not tolerate brands’ support of fake news and inappropriate content through advertising, illustrated by the Stop Funding Hate movement on Twitter.

There is continued development of technology to detect and remove inappropriate content from the online advertising industry but the key is collaboration between all sides to ensure a consistent approach.

The post It’s Time For The Industry to Combat Brand Safety Issues appeared first on PerformanceIN.