The humble banner ad and other standard online ad units could be poised for an evolutionary shake-up as advertisers and publishers pioneer the concept of using the formats as outlets for branded and sponsored live broadcasts.
The US has already made baby steps into 'live' territory and a smattering of Australian advertisers and publishers have admitted they have started to toy with the possibility of pushing live content through online ad inventory.
It's a concept known as 'Live, Live,' says AOL digital prophet David Shingy who enthused to AdNews, while attending Cnet in Sydney, that “this is where the future gets really interesting.”
You already have formats which are embedded in the page so why aren't we publishing live content to those ad units?” he said.
Shingy confirmed that AOL has a team working on delivering the concept, after testing the waters successfully at the back end of last year with a 30-minute live video ad for General Motors which ran in video spots across AOL properties and its associated networks. YouTube and the New York Times are also thought to be developing the idea, although they have so far failed to confirm.
Closer to home, both UM and Fairfax have revealed that they too are dipping their toes into live content delivery, although it still remains very much in the 'concept' stage.
UM has explored the opportunity with one 'significant' publisher, but, according to CEO Mat Baxter, the project ended up failing because of the publisher's unwillingness to complete sign off, despite extensive exploration of the idea.
Meanwhile, Fairfax custom solutions commercial manager Felix Krueger also divulged that it has been working with advertisers on “ branded live stream concepts,” but believes that in order for the idea to take off “content and context have to be right in order to create a truly engaging user experience.”
By and large the willingness exists, but the Australian business, much like its counterpart in the US, is still held back by various limitations. Baxter explained: “Publishers nowadays are content creators and distributors. What they're not is real-time broadcasters. With that comes another layer of management and the implementation of new systems, new policies and guidelines. It's not insurmountable, but there are definitely financial and resourcing issues.”
Other senior figures in the Australian industry suggested that delivery would have to be standardised across the industry for it to become effective, while Bohemia digital director Johnny Style emphasised that it “heightens the need for marriage of content and context, for example, a live sponsored broadcast of Paris Fashion Week onto fashion and beauty sites.” He also pointed out that using the ad inventory available on a homepage might not necessarily work because the bulk of in bound traffic comes from social referrals.
Various ad agency figures believe there is a certain inevitability to the arrival of this new development because Facebook's newsfeed auto-play has paved the way for a different advertising environment, plus shifting the expectations of consumers.
Style believes that it has the potential to rejuvenate the market. “Done sparingly and within context, it could revitalise the advertising experience,” he said.
However, Ikon digital director Tim Micallef, thinks that format consideration is key to its success. “It will come down to how it is integrated into the format and the ability to include a call to action to go through to a better experience.
“Personally I think it will be best executed on the half page format,” he admitted.
Email Nicola at nicolariches@yaffa.com.au.