Video Ads in Long-Form ...

Vindico recently released its "Insights: Year in Review" report fro 2011. Among the conclusions in the report is that click-through rate (CTR) is no longer the most significant metric of audience in a brand for video ad campaigns. CTR is replaced by the number of viewers who complete a video ad.

Internet Ad Revenue Rea...

Internet ad revenue revenue grew 22 percent in 2011, to $31 billion, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report . That’s an all-time high.The final three months were also the all-time best quarter at $9 billion, an increase of 20 percent from the same quarter in 2010. Search remains the biggest piece of the pie, with $14.8 billion in revenue, up from $11.7 billion in 2010. Not surprisingly, however, as a percentage, mobile is the fastest-growing sector, more than doubling from $0.6 billion 2010 (the first year that the report tracked mobile numbers) to $1.6 billion 2011. Display advertising grew 35 percent to $11.1 billion overall, with video in particular accounting for $1.8 billion. PricewaterhouseCoopers prepared the report for the Interactive Advertising Bureau , and representatives ffromrm both organizations are discussing their findings on a conference call right now. Apparently, the IAB always kicks off the call with a quote from a notable figure that seems to reflect the general theme of the report. This year, it went with Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand and as in what direction we are moving.” It’s not all about growth. For example, Sherrill Mane, the IAB’s senior vice president of research, analytics, and measurement, said that the noteworthy thing about CPMs (the price paid per thousand ad impressions) is that they’re not falling quite as quickly as they used to be, so there’s hope they’ll stabilize or even rise in the future. As you look across the numbers, she also said that the movement of brand dollars online slowed in the second half of 2011 compared to the first six months of the year.

Report: Facebook’...

Facebook's average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) increased 41% since Q1 last year, said Simon Mansell, CEO of social media marketing company TBG Digital. The findings, detailed in a TBG Digital's "Global Facebook Advertising Report", was designed to identify trends and measure performance of Facebook campaigns.

Defining the Millennial...

Millennials make up a very large part of the world of today and their influence is only going to increase as the years roll by. The Boston Consulting Group has conducted research that looks at this enigmatic group of people (which is almost 80 million strong in the US alone) that range in age from 16-34 years old. The study is very interesting and if there is an overarching theme to takeaway from the information it’s that you should be cautious not to clump all millennials into one neat package. In fact the report (which you can get here but you will need to register) breaks the group into six smaller ones, all of which we have probably seen to one degree or another. This approach should be taken with any larger group since this kind of segmentation can reveal VERY different lifestyles amongst a group. However, if any marketers have developed a personal bias and see all millennials as one type of person they could be making a grave business mistake. What is most interesting for marketers is the caution that the report gives in the stereotyping of this group. They have increasing buying power but a skewed view of what a millennial is and what they represent could cause marketers to miss opportunities. A closed mind can crush the bottom line. Take a look at how millenials view themselves v. how non-millennials view them in this word cloud comparison. It’s usually the case that outsiders tend to view groups, especially those younger than themselves, in much less flattering terms than the group itself does. Some of the less than admirable traits as seen by non-millennials are very emotionally charged like lazy, spoiled, selfish. Funny that millennials are not very afraid to call themselves lazy so maybe there is some agreement there. At any rate, it is imperative for marketers to set aside any image they personally have of any group. If there is disdain for the millennials and what they stand for but they are the prime market for your product you better put aside the bias or expect a smaller bottom line. Millennials are a very unusual segment in that they are coming up during a time of such rapid change that they are either driving or are directly participating in. They are experiencing change at a greater pace than any other group, arguably, in history. The Internet era is this century’s version of the Industrial Revolution. Things are changing but unlike the times of change in the past where mostly adults were the beneficiaries of the change, today’s change impacts people of all ages. In fact, one could argue that the younger the person is the more tech savvy they are thus the less connected they are to groups older than them who are trying to learn these new things rather than being raised on them. Sure the same could be said for the PC era but this is different. Today is very different and if marketers don’t figure that out and set aside their own preconceived notions of the millennials place in this world, they do so at their own risk. Your thoughts?

70% of Facebook Ads Poi...

Social Fresh recently unveiled “The 2012 Facebook Ads Report.” Among the major findings in the report is that 70 percent of advertisers are likely to point Facebook ad traffic to a Facebook app.