Are Your Ads Even Being Seen on Mobile?

Are Your Ads Even Being Seen on Mobile?

One thing about programmatic advertising is that unlike traditional media you often don’t get to see your own ads in action. Unlike a billboard or television commercial you are completely reliant on sophisticated targeting methodologies which by their very nature exclude you from seeing your own advertisement. No matter how much faith you have in your technology, your targeting or your vendors there is still a tiny little voice in the back of your head which wonders if your ads are even being seen at all.

Have you ever seen this before?

The image above is a screenshot from a large publisher’s “accelerated mobile page” or AMP for short. AMP is delivered exclusively on mobile and accessible through Google’s search results. It is a trimmed down version of the mobile web designed to load with lightning fast speed.

The problem is that although AMP content is designed to load with lightning fast speed, most advertisements are not. In fact, ads can take so much longer to load than the original page content that it leads to the situation shown in the image above, where instead of seeing your advertisement, your audience is shown a placeholder.

Wait, so just how common are Accelerated Mobile Pages?

If you pull out your phone and Google “trump’s new travel plan” you will be able to see for yourself. All results with a lightning symbol and “AMP” next to them are accelerated mobile pages. After being adopted by Google last year there are currently over 600 million published accelerated mobile pages.

Are my ads affected?

If you are using HTML5 assets that rely on feature heavy Javascript libraries such as those found in Google Web Designer and/or rich CSS styling your ads are most certainly suffering from relatively slow load times on AMP.

What can I do about it?

As part of the AMP standard there is also AMP 4 Ads or A4A for short. This is an even more stripped down version of the AMP standard which allows your creative to load in parallel with the original content on the page.

At a DoubleClick Leadership Summit last year, Paul Muret, VP of Display, Video and Analytics at Google gave a live demonstration in which A4A creative loaded in just half a second, compared with over 3 seconds for non-A4A creative.

You can also serve A4A creative on standard non-AMP mobile web environments. However, be aware that functionality and styling will seem limited compared to what you are used to.

Taking things one step further.

Regardless of whether or not your creative is designed for AMP, if you are measuring the results of your mobile programmatic campaign based on a KPI such as “reach & frequency” you are heavily exposed to the risk of your advertisements not being viewable.

To mitigate this risk, it is imperative that your programmatic campaigns are optimised towards a goal such as sales, enquiries, registrations, engagement or at the very least viewable impressions. Have you ensured that you or your programmatic partner are utilising cost per action, cost per click or cost per completed view bidding strategies? If not, perhaps you are the one with the blindfold on…

Written by Mike McGarry

1632 1150 [email protected]
SHAI LUFT - CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Meet Shai Luft, a senior marketing executive with a proven track record of delivering results for Australia’s largest ASX200-listed companies

Chief Operating Officer

Shai Luft

Meet Shai Luft, a senior marketing executive with a proven track record of delivering results for Australia’s largest ASX200-listed companies. Despite his success, Shai was frustrated by the amount of red tape and bureaucracy that held back marketing innovation. That’s why he co-founded Bench in 2012. As the driving force behind Bench’s operations, Shai is committed to empower marketers with the agility and control they need to achieve their best results.

ORI GOLD - CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER An ad tech and martech expert. Driven by the frustration of everyday marketers facing a lack of control and accessibility, Ori co-founded Bench in 2012 to revolutionise the digital advertising landscape.

Chief Executive Officer

Ori Gold

Meet Ori Gold, an ad tech and martech expert. Driven by the frustration of everyday marketers facing a lack of control and accessibility, Ori co-founded Bench in 2012 to revolutionise the digital advertising landscape. Heading the talented and forward-thinking team at Bench, Ori is the driving force behind the company’s strategic and product vision. Thanks to Ori’s leadership, Bench has become one of the most respected and successful digital agencies in Australia.

GENERAL MANAGER LIAM GARRATT Meet Liam Garratt, the creative mind behind Bench’s top-notch products and services. With a career in digital media spanning over a decade, Liam has made a name for himself as a leader in the industry.

General Manager

Liam Garratt

Meet Liam Garratt, the creative mind behind Bench’s top-notch products and services. With a career in digital media spanning over a decade, Liam has made a name for himself as a leader in the industry. He got his start in 2011 working for UK-based programmatic platform Crimtan, where he played a key role in launching the company’s Australian office. In 2017, Liam brought his expertise to Bench, where he now leads the Product & Services functions. Liam is passionate about delivering only the highest quality products and services to Bench’s clients. His commitment to excellence is the foundation of Bench’s stellar reputation.

VP OF GROWTH ANTHONY FARGEOT Meet Anthony Fargeot, the pioneer behind Bench’s growth and success. Joining Bench in its infancy in 2013, Anthony’s experience with high-growth start-ups gave him the skills to help Bench become one of the most successful digital agencies in Australia.

VP of Growth

Anthony Fargeot

Meet Anthony Fargeot, the pioneer behind Bench’s growth and success. Joining Bench in its infancy in 2013, Anthony’s experience with high-growth start-ups gave him the skills to help Bench become one of the most successful digital agencies in Australia. As Head of Client Services and then Director of Operations, Anthony led Bench through its highest growth period. Today, as VP of Growth, Anthony uses his creative thinking and strategic insights to always look for new and innovative ways to help Bench stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing digital landscape.