Why Changing Consumer Behaviors Necessitate New Online Ad Solutions

Executive Summary

The way consumers gather information is continually changing. As a result, the way advertisers are able to effectively engage with consumers is also an evolving entity. Remember when watching television meant sitting through commercials? The development of the Digital Recording Device (DVR) changed that, and the way consumers watch TV hasn’t been the same since.

Advertisers have taken note of the change in consumers’ behavior and have since turned to ad solutions that are more tightly integrated into a program’s content (where a viewer’s attention is fixed). Hello, product placement.

Online, a similar transformation is taking place. Banner and text ads, which once garnered click-through rates (CTRs) as high as 78%, today average CTRs of just 0.01%. This rapid decline in traditional online advertising has caused online advertisers to shift the delivery of their ad messages to the place where online readers actually spend their time: the content within the website itself.

This new type of advertising is called in-content advertising. Here, we’ll explore what in- content advertising is, how it works, and the benefits it offers to publishers, advertisers, and consumers alike.

Download the white paper here.