Google Chrome has announced that from today its browser will stop supporting Adobe Flash and instead favour the use of HTML5 ads instead. Given that reports suggested the vast majority of rich media ads use Flash, AdNews asked the industry if the transition to HTML5 was one to fear.
The Hallway's Brad Bennett said he's not sure if the entire industry is prepared for the shift, but said the warning signs have been there for a while.
“Anyone who is caught off guard by this thing hasn't been paying attention,” Bennett said. “I consider it a very good thing.
“I think a general move towards open standards is always a good thing and the common replacement for flash will be HMTL5.
“Generally the transition offers a better user experience. Every tech has its own specific strengths but on a broad spectrum HTML5 has more inherent responsiveness, lower use of resources and also generally more security.”
M&C Saatchi group head of digital Claire Van Heyningen said she thinks the transition is going to have a “significant impact” at least in the short term, but doesn't see it as a bad thing for the industry.
“We keep telling our clients that it's short term pain, long term gain,” Van Heyningen said. “We've had to retrain our digital designers, so people that used to build flash units are now building those units in HTML5. It's been quite a rapid up-skill that we've had to do across the team.”
Similarly J Walter Thompson Sydney have been focusing on up-skilling design and development teams on HTML5 technology. Group digital creative director Jay Morgan said that as of this morning “nothing really changes for us, just the technology.”
“It is currently a longer production process to achieve a similar result in HTML5 and it’s important that clients and publishers are aware of these new challenges when working through timelines,” Morgan said.
“There are currently also a few limitations around load size but these will become less significant over time as we find new ways to optimise the creative.
“As much as technology changes, compelling and effective communications remain our focus regardless of the delivery technology.”
ZenithOptimedia digital data and analytics director Rebecca Sharpe said: "This is a great opportunity for creatives and agencies to diversify their skill set and offering. Many agencies have focussed on Flash development and the move to HTML5 releases additional creative freedom and expands to cross-device, where Flash has struggled (namely smartphones and tablets). With brands, globally, adopting and “mobile first strategy” HTML5 unlocks new promotional avenues for brands seeking interaction, engagement and memorability."
Heyningen and M&C Saatchi have also spent the last month doing a roadshow to help clients understand the impact of the changes including issues around ironing out bugs and understanding costs around transitioning existing assets to HTML5.
Ikon digital amplification and trade director Tim Micallef pointed to the impact that industry-wide moves to HTML5 could have on creative.
“The best thing about it is it is a standard that works across all platforms so if I have something on HTML5 it can adapt to mobile, tablet and desktop. Whereas at the moment people are building a flash banner for your desktop and an animated gif which isn’t overly pretty on a mobile, because everyone will be comfortable using the HTML standard you'll get much nice creative.”
Deepend design director Noel Smetanig agreed that while there is a misconception that you can only create richer ads with Flash, HTML5 gives better results across all devices.
"With no support on mobile devices the audience who can see Flash ads is rapidly diminishing," he said.
"Banner ads nowadays have to run on various devices and advertisers just aren’t moving fast enough. We need far more flexibility in regards to file size and formats – HTML5 ads often have larger file weights compared to Flash ads and most publishers’ ad specifications can’t be supported with these limited file sizes."
But Heyningen thinks the transition is worthwhile for the industry.
“There are lots of converter tools out there but we just fundamentally don’t' think that's the way to do it; it's a bandaid solution,” Heyningen said.
“The files that it spits out at the other end are often quite buggy and it just means that the equality assurance testing gets drawn out. So they're not a solution they're a workaround and in our view, the focus should be on training up. It's future proofing our business and it's the only way to do it.”
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