Tom Pepper

About Tom Pepper

Good digital video ads aren’t just TV spots on different devices

Brands invest a lot into creating TV ads so it’s not surprising that marketers want to get as much value as possible out of the content they’ve created by using them in digital advertising campaigns.

However, marketers are often repurposing and using TV ads online in pre-roll or mid-roll spots. The ads launch automatically without the device user having any choice in the matter and the TV ads are generally out of context with the content around the ads.  

Anyone watching on-demand TV content knows that this is a frustrating ad experience, and it’s even more of an intrusion on the smaller screens of tablets and smartphones.

A study from our R&D department shows that eight out of ten people are annoyed by ads which self-initiate on their handheld devices.

Consumers’ acceptance for interruptions on their digital devices is far lower than on TV, and the ad is considered a significant intrusion to their content consumption.

Measures of digital marketing ROI are meaningless unless ads are viewable

If you have the sneaking suspicion that your digital ad spend isn’t working hard enough, it turns out you’re probably right.

Hundreds of millions of pounds and dollars are being wasted each year on digital ads which are served but never viewed.

New figures from comScore show that more than half of digital ads (54%) are never seen by consumers. It’s a colossal waste, and demonstrates the need for brands and marketers to reassess their digital marketing approach.

Mobile marketers must reach for the stars

The success of mobile as an advertising medium depends on shifting people’s perceptions about what advertising looks like.

Consumers want choice, control and relevance if they are going to interact with a brand. If an ad’s easy to ignore, it will be; if it intrudes upon consumers’ content, they’ll naturally start to resent the brand that’s interrupting them.

Give mobile users choice over whether and how they view an ad, however, and brands can achieve the recognition (and even the affection) that traditional mobile advertising has so signally lacked.