The Mobile Scroller Ad Concept - IAB Italia Mobile Scroller Ad Concept: Finding the balance between attention and intrusion About this report 2 Mobile advertising today is challenged

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The Mobile Scroller Ad Concept: Finding the balance between attention and intrusion

About this report

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Mobile advertising today is challenged by both the threat of ad blocking, and the simple tendency of

audiences today to ignore traditional mobile banner ad formats. Therefore, advertisers are

challenged to identify and utilize formats that capture audience attention, while avoiding perceptions

of being intrusive or overbearing.

To that end, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Celtra, PadSquad and Millward Brown Digital

have partnered to test the efficacy and audience perception of a “scroller,” an emerging ad concept

in mobile advertising.

IAB is not promoting scrollers as a new standard ad unit. And they emphasize the need for all new

or innovative ad concepts to respect user experience concerns, specifically by following the IAB’s

LEAN principles. But IAB does want to encourage ad innovation, and testing of new, user-friendly,

mobile-optimized ad concepts.

The mobile advertising landscape

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At least 419 million people — that’s 22% of the world’s 1.9B smartphone users — are blocking ads on the mobile web,1 and in-app ads can now be blocked1

Nonetheless, as mobile usage continues to increase2, mobile advertising remains on the rise and will reach over $100 billion dollars in 20163

Although mobile display advertising has historically outperformed desktop4, advertisers continue to seek out ad concepts that garner audience attention while not disrupting the user’s experience, for example by blocking content. Buyers and sellers alike seek creative concepts that audiences find tolerable, or even appealing

Accordingly, it’s essential that advertisers continue to explore ad concepts that balance attention and receptivity

Source: 1) FairView, May 30, 2016; 2) Millward Brown “AdReaction: Video Creative

in a Digital World” 2015; 3)eMarketer; 4) Millward Brown Digital MarketNorms®

Research Background

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The IAB, Celtra, and PadSquad wanted to understand how a specific, innovative mobile ad concept performed relative to baseline, widely used, mobile expandable banners.

This concept is what the IAB calls a “scroller,” characterized by an ad unit that appears as a window onto a creative execution that reveals itself as the user scrolls up and down in a content feed.

IAB considers new ad concepts relative to its LEAN ad principles. The scroller performs well in this regard. It was a smaller file size than the expandable banner format it was compared with. Scrollers can be served encrypted and ad-choices supported. And as an in-feed unit, the ad never blocks content, and the viewer has full control of scrolling the ad onto and off of the screen, so it is non-invasive. Moreover, the strong performance of the ad in the test reinforces that consumers did not view it as invasive.

Celtra’s interscroller format was used as the scroller concept in this test. Padsquadcreated the actual ad tested, which was for Schick Hydro razors. We compared the scroller against a 320x50 expandable mobile banner to assess audience reception of the concept as well as its effectiveness.

Research Methodology

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Millward Brown Digital leveraged a two cell methodology to compare the creative executions.

Respondents were randomly shown one of the formats on their mobile device before taking the survey.

Results were compared to determine if the scroller outperformed the expandable banner unit.

Have

Heard

Have Not

Heard

Brand A

Brand B

Brand C

+4.5

Awareness

+1.3

Intent

Exposed to Expandable

Banner

Respondents surveyed simultaneously with same survey

during ad campaign

Scroller compared to banner baseline to determine media effect

Recruitment Dates Overall Sample Size

3/24/2016 – 3/31/2016 Expandable Banner n= 256; Scroller n= 251

Exposed to Scroller

Advertising Effectiveness Results:How the scroller performed

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Summary of Findings

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Overall, the scroller succeeded in boosting awareness, ad recall, and purchase intent by statistically significant margins. Brand favorability and message association increased too, but not statistically significantly. Thus the new concept outperformed the standard expandable banner format in nearly every category.

Respondents viewed the new scroller as less invasive than the control ad placement, even as it reveals itself to be just as large as an expandable banner unit.

The fully-revealed scroller highlights interactive elements that often remain hidden by banner units that are not expanded by viewers. By politely introducing rich brand experiences, the scroller increases purchase intent conversion.

Younger audiences and males are the most receptive to the scroller. Audiences 18-34 most enjoyed the ad and appreciated the ad reveal. Males rated the ad very favorably on measures of creative quality.

30%37%

42% 46%55%56%A

46%A 47% 51%

63%A

Aided Category Awareness Mobile Ad Awareness Message Association Brand Favorability Purchase Intent

Expandable Banner (n=256) Scroller (n=251)

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Mobile audiences are receptive and pay attention to the scroller concept

The largest significant increases were in Aided Brand Awareness and Purchase Intent

Overall Audience Brand Metrics

+9.5 +4.4 +4.5 +8.3+25.7

Source: Millward Brown Digital IAB Mobile Scroller Study

A indicates statistically higher performance at the 90% confidence level

32%42% 46% 50%

69%

45%A 54%A 57% A67% A

77%A

Enjoyment Standard Branding Stop and Look Ad Distinctiveness Ad Relevance


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The scroller outperforms the expandable banner on all creative diagnostic measures

Audiences found the scroller to be distinctive, enjoyable, well branded, attention grabbing and relevant.



Overall Creative Diagnostic Metrics

+12.0 +10.9 +16.9 +7.8+13.4

Enjoyment - Thinking about the ad you just saw, how much did you enjoy seeing the Schick ad on your mobile device? –Top 2 Boxes (T2B)

Standard branding - Which one of these phrases applies to this ad? T2B

Stop and look - If you came across an ad like the Schick ad you just saw, would it make you want to stop what you’re doing and look at it? T2B

Ad Distinctiveness - How different is the Schick ad you just saw from other types of advertising that you have seen on your smartphone? T2B

Ad Relevance - If you were buying a new razor, how relevant would the points made in the ad be to you? T2B

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Audiences were impressed by how the scroller reveals itself

The scroller success is explained by how it is revealed and by how it highlights interactive features.



Which of the following characteristics about the ad did you enjoy?

Creative Features

16%

35%A

The method by which the ad revealed itself

Expandable Banner (n=256)

11%

20%A

The tap to flip/product rotation feature

Scroller (n=251)

+19.1+9.4

46%

26%

65%A

35%A

18-34 Year Olds 35+ Year Olds

Expandable Banner (n=74; n=182)

Scroller (n=85, n=166)

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Younger users were particularly likely to express enjoyment of the ad, and to appreciate how the polite Scroll revealed itself

Results among millennials show that they appreciate the uniqueness of the scroller concept and believe that it is more enjoyable.

15% 17%

44%A

31%A

18-34 Year Olds 35+ Year Olds

Expandable Banner (n=74; n=182)

Scroller (n=85, n=166)

CREATIVE METRICS: ENJOYMENT CREATIVE ATTRIBUTES: METHOD IN WHICH AD

REVEALED ITSELF



+18.8 +9.1

+28.7 +14.3

37%43% 45%

51%

68%55%A

60%A 63% A74% A

82%A

Enjoyment Standard Branding Stop and Look Ad Distinctiveness Ad Relevance


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The scroller performed particularly strongly with males

Double digit increases across all of the creative metrics indicate that males were especially favorable towards the new concept.



Overall Creative Diagnostic Metrics - Males

+17.6 +18.5 +22.7 +13.8+18.1

Enjoyment - Thinking about the ad you just saw, how much did you enjoy seeing the Schick ad on your mobile device? –Top 2 Boxes (T2B)

Standard branding - Which one of these phrases applies to this ad? T2B

Stop and look - If you came across an ad like the Schick ad you just saw, would it make you want to stop what you’re doing and look at it? T2B

Ad Distinctiveness - How different is the Schick ad you just saw from other types of advertising that you have seen on your smartphone? T2B

Ad Relevance - If you were buying a new razor, how relevant would the points made in the ad be to you? T2B

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Non-Schick users drove particularly large increases when considering creative metrics

Schick users have higher baselines across the board, making it more difficult for the scroller to move the needle on results.

53%

63% 64% 63%

87%

63%69% 71%

77%A

86%

Enjoyment StandardBranding

Stop and Look AdDistinctiveness

Ad Relevance


31%

39%45%

49%

67%

44%A

54%A57%A

67%A

76%A

Enjoyment StandardBranding

Stop and Look AdDistinctiveness

Ad Relevance


BRAND USAGE - SCHICK : CREATIVE METRICS BRAND USAGE - NON-SCHICK USERS (GROUPED):

CREATIVE METRICS

+14.4 +12.3 +17.9 +8.9+13.3



+10.3 +5.6 +6.8 +11.4 -1.2

See Slide 12 for explanations of tested questions.

Conclusions on the Mobile Scroller Concept

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Mobile video may need additional branding

Emerging ad concepts that balance a high degree of interactivity with a less heavy and intrusive user experience can offer advertisers a means to effectively communicate on mobile.

The scroller offers a natural and easy means to dispel the ad via scrolling/swiping, and it is delivered inline so it does not block content, which helped it resonate with consumers.

The scroller scored well across all measures of brand effectiveness

Across all creative measures, audiences favored the creative quality of the scroller

Audiences appreciated the scroller’s interactivity and product reveal

Contact:[email protected]

www.padsquad.com

www.celtra.com

www.millwardbrowndigital.com

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The Mobile Scroller Ad Concept - IAB Italia Mobile Scroller Ad Concept: Finding the balance between attention and intrusion About this report 2 Mobile advertising today is challenged