Automotive, finance and fashion mags best for interactive tablet ads, says GfK MRI research executive
GfK MRI, USA said at FIPP’s Research Forum today in Hamburg, that the introduction of the iPad in 2010 changed the way the measurement company does business.
As a result, Gfk MRI went from measuring 150 digital editions in 2011 to 208 in 2013. Two years ago, the company introduced Starch Digital, which measures impact of ad effectiveness on digital devices, and initially found it challenging because of the availability of sample (penetration of readership is small on tablets). “We found that average recall for ads on tablets vs print is about the same,” said Galin, “and this didn’t change for around two years.”
GfK MRI then went on to focus on measuring interactive tablet ads, to understand their impact on readers as opposed to static ads. Again, this proved that both types of ads behaved about the same, which was down to the fact that overall, most of the ‘interactive’ ads didn’t have a lot of interactivity. Some had a website hyperlink, but the study found that not many advertisers were opting to use more interactive features.
As time moved on, and more interactive ads were available, Gfk MRI found that the more ‘bells and whistles’ an ad had, the more people were likely to recall that ad. “There are not many examples,” said Galin, “but there are some.”
And which are the magazine sectors incorporating more interactivity in their tablet ads? Automotive, finance and fashion. “Tablet ad interactivity is still not being leveraged enough, though,” added Galin.
Galin said that today, audience scale is still an issue and agencies are reluctant to make investments into digital editions because the scale (in the US, at least) is not there quite yet. “There is some growth,” said Galin, “but it’s slow.”
