TurboAds: The Aging of Rich Media

DoubleClick says that rich media ads now account for 28% of all ads served on the network, and Bluestreak similarly reports 25% of all ads they serve are rich media. This is good news, in that rich media ads are generally demonstrated to be more effective for advertisers, both in terms of response and brand effectiveness, as well as for the fact that publishers can generally charge more for such ads. On the downside, however, industry experts acknowledge that advertisers are getting lazy with rich media, doing the minimum in terms of creativity just to attract attention, which in most cases means consumer annoyance.

This article is a good review of the state of rich media. It concludes by posing the question "Can rich media ad creative be saved from itself?" The answer it offers is only if advertisers invest the resources in the creative challenge. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.