Digital marketers have become adept at incorporating ads in online content of all kinds. One piece of web real estate left relatively alone has been the photograph. That will likely change with Vibrant Media's acquisition of Image Space Media. One of the goal's of this deal is to push this ad format, according to the Media Decoder blog. "We believe that the user goes to the Web to be engaged in content," said Cella Irvine, the chief executive of Vibrant.
"That content is a combination right now of different media formats."
Images make up about a quarter of the content online, Vibrant CEO Cella Irvine told the publication. "Up to this point, those images have been unmonetizeable to the publisher and unavailable to the advertiser," she said.
Automobiles will the first sector on which the company will focus, followed by travel, beauty and entertainment. Advertisers will pay for their ads to be placed on images—either of their own or competitors' products. The ad revenue will be split between Vibrant and the web site publisher.
The AngryBirds Experience
While consumers are quite used to ads embedded throughout their online experience, occasionally they revolt if the ad is too intrusive. An example of this happened last Spring when ads began appearing on the loading screens in the AngryBirds HDiPad version of the app. A screen that appeared when a game was loading or paused, promoting merchandise–an ad that could not be skipped—prompted all kinds of ire from users' on the app's message board.
One takeaway from a recent poll, however, suggests that as long as the ad doesn't last too long, consumers can find it bearable.
15 Seconds. That's How Long Consumers Will Give an Online Ad
15-seconds is the acceptable amount of time to be required to view an online ad before they can access free content, according Poll Position. It found that 54% of Americans think 15-seconds is just the right amount of time for online advertisers and publishers to deliver ads without losing content views.
Newstex notes that 15-seconds was the shortest duration offered as a response to the poll. "It's safe to assume that had 10-seconds, 5-seconds, and 0-seconds been included, the results would be more interesting."
The point, though, for publishers that are monetizing content by asking viewers to sit through ads is that shorter is better.
