ScoopWhoop : New Media

It is very difficult to arrest attention of people in this attention deficit economy. Some youngsters set up an online news vehicle ScoopWhoop in 2013 to experiment with ideas how content could be disseminated online. You require a snappier mix of news and entertainment. ScoopWhoop uses a lot of pictures and pithy caption draw our attention to it. The text is less. The stories are original or curated. In the newsroom, the editors and staffers figure out the top stories of the day. There is a software tool that curates what is trending or popular on the social media.There is a filter to decide whether any news has the potential to be shared and easy to consume. The team understands the mix of trending stories, text and video. To scale, they require 40-50 million uniques. That calls for prolific content in different formats. They do so by creating sub-properties such as for women, food, entertainment and others. ScoopWhoop Talkies makes videos. The content is not expensive to produce and so they can scale up. The brand talks to the youngsters. It is the BuzzFeed of India. It has 20 million unique users.

ScoopWhoop can monetise itself by convincing the brands to shift their ad spends to digital. More than 80 percent plus revenue comes from native advertising. Sponsored posts or advertorials are roughly five percent of all content. The site currently charges a flat Rs.1.5 lac for a sponsored article.

Its 65-70 percent of total traffic comes from Facebook. Its 25 percent traffic comes directly. Its app brings six to eight percent traffic. Thus it is highly dependent on social media. This situation is faced by BuzzFeed too.

The days are not far off when huge digital media publishers would emerge, since media consumtion habits in India are changing. The content of ScoopWhoop is consumed off-site on social media. It is distributed content. BuzzFeed who poineered this concept was formed in 2006. Along with Huffington Post or The Guardian, BuzzFeed pursues this model — audience beyond their own website and app.

Native Advertising : Prospects and Possibilities

Native advertising is that advertising that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears. It is so indistinguishable from the other editorial matter. It is mostly online, but is feasible elsewhere too. Generally, native advertising assumes the form of an article or video produced by an advertiser for promotional purposes which match the editorial content. Native here refers to the content coherence. It blends with the surroundings. Somewhere in order to avoid deception, it is indicated in corners, or at the bottom of the ad that it is an ad. This is called disclosure. The Hall Mark of Fame series which first appreared in 1951 is an earliest instance of native advertising. Mostly these ads are publisher produced brand content. The ads that appear along side the search results are native to the search experience. All promoted tweets, stories and posts on social media are native marketing. It is a moot point whether content marketing is native advertising or not.

An ad that is hard to identify as an ad performs better against ad blockers. The disclosures make it easier to block.

Native advertising is highly contextual and audience-centric. It is not much brand-centric. Readers themselves reject the content that sound like a sales pitch. This applies to blogs and content marketing. It is important to know where not to advertise. Or else it leads to brand dilution.

It all boils down to the creativity of the marketer. The communication should add value to the online user’s experience.It should be integrated and relevant. It does so through storytelling.

At the same time, it is important to monitor and track the results. In the light of this feedback, we can modify the ad and improve upon it.

In measuring the effect of the native content, it is important to focus on emotional aspects. The traditional metrics just measure the clicks, and emotional impact is underreported.

Native ads are used to connect with the consumers at a deeper level. They are not short term tactical tools.

Native ads are consumed across multiple platforms — from TV to online to mobile apps. Each brand cannot build campaigns for multiple platforms.

Native ads can use fixed slots, but the better idea is to create these ads dynamically based on user interaction.

To buy native inventory over exchange is challenging. Its major inventory is with the publishers. If negotiations are held with the sales team of the publishers, the ability of the advertisers to negotiate is reduced. It is for the publisher to decide how much advertising-driven content is to be allowed. It is necessary for them to maintain editorial integrity. There should not be content mismatch too.

According to the research project of Science of Engahament ( SoE ) sponsored by BBC, some facial coding techniques have been explored. The maxim is that ‘your face never lies’ holds true.The project measured an individual’s unconscious response to native content. Well-excuted native content is trusted and persuasive. It does exercise emotional impact.

Native ad clients must collaborate with the publisher and must be ready to devote time, effort and resources.

Branded content must be informative and be in tune with the interest of the users.There should be transparency in disclosures. The content must be compelling. It should be consistent across the platforms. They should not be distractive, demanding attention but must sync with the editorial content. There should be experiemantation with content and formats.

Online Ads

arketerailabommendd the deadhich eSince we have entered the Internet age, online ads have become an integral part of our lives. It is necessary to understand the variety of online ads available. The following discussion explains the categories of online ads.

Google Search Ads

These ads appear alongside the results of our searches. Here the search is initiated by putting a key word in the box, and the results are displayed. The ads appear on the side. These ads are pay-per-click ads (PPC ) and are managed by Goole AdWords Platform. Advertisers bid for key words through this platform. Advertisers provide the crafted ads and set budgets. An advertiser has to create Google AdWords account to advertise here.

AdWord Ads

These are similar to search ads. These also use AdWords platform. Many blogs subscribe to AdWords to get advertisement.

PPC Ads

Pay-per-click ads are priced on the basis of the number of clicks an ad receives. AdWords and BigAds both generate Pay-per-click ads.

Bing Ads

These are similar to Google ads since they too are on pay-per-click basis. Bing was formerly called Microsoft adCenter. Here too just like AdWords,one has tocreate a Bing Ads account.

Facebook Ads

Social media have emerged as big ad platforms, and carry different forms of ads.

Marketplace ads appear as side columns of the Fle for acebook. The elements we see are the headline, copy and an image. Another method is to have promoted posts which are ads that permit advertisers to pay a flat rate to promote a single post on the Facebook business page. Such promoted posts have a wider reach. A user’s interaction with an advertisers page or product page is shown to the user’s friends and larger network through sponsored stories. These stories appear in a user’s newsfeed. Facebook Exchange ( FBX ) are remarketing ads, which considers a user’s surfing habits to project ads to the precise target audience.

Twitter Ads

Twitter ads are the paid boosts. Brands use these to extend the reach of the tweets, promote hashtag and get more followers.There are promoted tweets to have a wider reach. There are which show up more frequently in the Who to Follow recommendation feature. Promoted trends put the custom hashtag in Trends Bar. That attracts additional attention.

Tumblr Ads

There are several formats of Tumblr ads. Tumlr Radar and Spotlight are sponsored  feature in highlights of unique content and accounts. These sponsored web post ads — are pieces of Tumblr content crafted by advertisers. These appear on dashboard feed of the users.A dollar sign distinguishes these as ads. To advertise on Tumblr, one has to become Tumbl sponsor.

Banner Ads

Theses ads are placed on the side, top or bottom and are image-based. They are of different sizes and designs. They appear in blogs, web sites and communities. Some websites brokerage the ad space with Ad Exchanges ( Google Display Network ). Alternatively, these ads can be bought directly.

Google Display Ads

These are banner ads too in a context and are used in Google Display Network. YouTube, Gmail, Blogger are part of the Network. Display ads can be text-based or image-based. They can be viseo too. Online ads through Google Display Network can be served using Google AdWords.

Retargeting Ads

These lure a user into the site. They are similar to Google Remarketing ads. These use the past web history of a user. A user surfs a site, say of the advertiser. He then moves to other sites. The ads then can appear. These are better than regular banner ads.

Flash Ads

Flash ads are also banner ads which use Flash design. It may have interactive feature to lure a user. These days Flash is used subtly, rather than going overboard.

Reddit Ads

Reddit ads have the elements of headline, destintion URL, and an optional image. These are bid-based. Advertiser sets a budget and time-frame. There are unique targeting options. Users can vote — either upvote or downvote in the comments section. This feedback goes to the advertiser directly. Reddits are frequented by young tech savy audience. Reddit is risque too. If properly executed, they arrest the attention economically. One can advertise on Reddit through their website.

Mobile Ads

These ads appear on smart phones. tablets or any other mobile device. Social media, websites and apps have a unique mobile version. In Google AdWords, one can avail of Enhanced Campaigns to place ads on mobile devices.

In Game Ads 

These ads appear in computer or video games. In sport games, there are billboards. Brand names appear as status symbols.

AdMob Ads

These ads appear in mobile apps. AdMob is Google’s mobile platform. Game creators can benefit, if the games are free, by offering ad space. Advertisers get ad spots. The format could be interstitials using rich HTML5 or image-based banner ads.

E-Mail Ads

While sending web mail, these ads can be offered. These could be notifications of promotions, price discount schemes, or new features. Images are large and text minimum. Message should be clear and concise. The subject line must be compelling. E-mail ads could be spammed under the Spam Act, and so the provisions of the Act have to be complied with.

G-Mail Ads

Google’s email service is called Gmail. Here contextual ads are placed. These are generated by an automated process.

Video Ads

Videos are becoming popular, as the Internet speeds pick up. There is no blatant advertising, but the branded content that subtly associate the product with the story. Humorous video ads too perform well. They use video ad network, and add an element of interactivity.

YouTube Ads

This is video sharing site of Google where ads appear. After the take over of YouTube by Google, advertising on it has become easier. There are several targeting options and several formats. There could be banner ads, in-video overlay ads, in-stream video ads which are video ads that appear before or during YouTube video, and many other set-ups.

Pinterest Ads

These are pieces of content pinned by brands and advertisers. These ads have a dollar sign before the price indicating that the product is available for sale. The pinned item is linked to the official product page. Even contests can be arranged on Pinterest. A marketer has not to pay anything to Pinterest but production of the ad itself could be time and effort consuming.

Instagram Ads

Officially there are no Instagram ads, but creative Instagram pics which could be shared with the user-crafted content has advertising value.

Vine Ads

These are just like Instagram ads. Officially they are not ads. But brands produce vine videos that serve as content-based ads, and coalesce with user crafted content. Good vine ads are 6-second content that stand out and often stop-motion techniques are used.

Online Advertising

When promotional messages are delivered on Internet, they are called online advertising or online marketing or Internet advertising or web advertising. Such promotion could be through emails, through search engines or mobile phones. In online advertising too, there is a publisher and an advertiser. A publisher integrates ads to the content. Advertiser provides the ads to be displayed on the content. Ad agencies generate the ad copy and ensure its placement. Ad servers deliver the ads and tracks the data. Advertising affiliates do the independent promotional work for the advertiver. To begin with, in the initial days of Internet, online ads were banned. Email ads were first used in 1978, and its use spread rapidly. It was in early 1990s, that non-commercial spam messages originated. Online banner ads appreared in the early 1990s. The first clickable ad appreared in 1993. Banner ads became mainstream in 1994. In 2003, search engine ad was started by Yahoo! AdWords was launched by Google in 2000. The trend now is to let the content and ad message merge. Coke’s online ad magazines, Red Bull’s streaming of space jump, Nike’s free apps for performance tracking are illustrations. Advertisers have taken to social media too. Mobile ads have grown.

The element of display ads are text, logos, videos, animations, photographs and other graphics. Targeting is related to user traits. That makes these ads effective. Tracking could be done by using cookies . Data is collected from a number of sources. This is behavioural targeting. There is contextual or semantic advertising too depending upon the content of the web page where the ads appear . Targeting is thus retargetting, behavioural targeting and contextual targeting. This makes advertising effective, and improves advertiser’s ROI. Apart from this, there is geotargeting based on a user’s suspected geography.

Web banner ads are graphical display ads within a webpage. They are delivered by a central server. These can be enriched by incorporating video, audio, animations, buttons, forms or other interactive elements. The software used could be Java applets, HTML5, Adobe Flash and such other programmes.

Traditional banners were frame ads. Here some space is set aside by publishers to have the frame ads.

Pop-ups and pop-unders. A pop-up ad is displayed in a new web browser window above a website visiter’s initial browser window. Conversely, pop-under ad opens in a new browser window under a website visitor’s initial browsing window.

Floating ads is also called overlay ads which is superimposed on the requested websiter’s content.

Expanding ads change dimensions as per the activities of the users over the ad. They allow advertisers to carry more information in restricted space.

Trick banners are banner ads. They imitate some commonly found screen elements, e.g.app message, OS message . Initially, the advertisers’ name is not mentioned. They are baits.

News feed ads are on the social media. They are intertwined with non-promoted news. Sponsored stories is an example. Twitter uses of promoted tweets and LinkedIn Sponsored updates. Newsfeed ads blend into other updates, and thus can be distiguished from the display ads.

Interestitial ad shows before a user can access the desired content. It could be embedded.