PointRoll has introduced a new banner ad unit that merges advertising with content. The new unit, called Dig@torial, allows the advertising content to live inside a banner that is next to the editorial content. The effect of that, writes ClickZ, is to bring the idea of a branded microsite directly to a publisher's homepage.
"The trend in the marketplace right now is for advertisers and publishers to create these very expensive microsites and then spend a lot of money to drive traffic to them," Michael Aronowitz, VP of channel development at PointRoll, said. "But Dig@torial itself takes the microsite experience, blows it into an ad unit to be sponsored by an advertiser, combining the expenditure of building and driving traffic all into one execution in a lot more cost-effective way."
The Microsite Phenomena
Ad-sponsored portals, micro sites - or other resources for consumers to visit again and again - have been of growing interest to advertisers over the years, according to Jake Wengroff, director of corporate communications at Frost & Sullivan. Bulldog Solutions and Frost & Sullivan, for example, recently partnered to offer services to advertisers that want to build microsites for related content. "Companies still want to advertise online - but they are no longer content with just banner or email alerts. They are looking for more compelling ways for publishers to engage with advertisers," Wengroff says. "To use a term that was popular ten years ago, what advertisers want now is something sticky online," he says, "a site that consumers will return to again and again."
PointRoll and Discovery Media conducted a study to determine the efficacy of Dig@torial. It found that the Discovery sites using the units exceeded the PointRoll average by more than 70% and outperformed standard Discovery campaigns by an additional 50% for both interaction rate and time-spent metrics. The units are now live on sites such as Discovery.com, TLC.com, and AnimalPlanet.com.
An Uncomfortable Relationship?
Combining editorial and advertising inside a banner ad, however, might be a step not all publishers - or advertisers - want to take. Aronowitz acknowledged the concern to ClickZ, adding that the unit makes it clear where editorial ended and advertising began.
Flirting with the Line
In truth, though, other ad formats have been flirting with this fine line, pushing the envelop a little further each time. Esquire and InStyle are adding interactive graphics that require barcode readers to see complementary content - and possibly ads in the future. A tempting monetization avenue for publishers using this technology would include taking a percentage of the sales that are made via this technology.
Twitter has been another, less controversial, example. Last year, The Service Employees International Union, introduced an ad that contains canned text that Twitter users can post to their stream in order to drive interest in a cause. More recently, Tremor Media launched a video ad-banner format to address government fair balance requirements for online pharma advertising - as well as hold users' attention online. The product, called Rx In-Stream, uses shorter-form, pre-roll video in place of the long-form video ads that typically convey safety information. An accompanying banner ad, instead, provides the data about the risks and side effects of the drug in question, while the shorter-form video ad focuses on product messaging and branding.
