Marketers: Why you need more than clicks

Moving into 2011 one thing is certain: brands and marketers relying on simple click through ad measurements will likely be unhappy by year's end. Yes, clicks are important, but clicks are no longer enough of a measurement, especially since rich media ads are now leading the advertising charge.

by Kristina Knight

"With most past [advertising formats] clicks were what could be measured," said Diaz Nesamoney, Jivox CEO. Video ad platform Jivox marked 2010 with a 330% growth rate and the addition of 100 new brand advertisers. Their success is similar to other platforms offering more than simple display or text ads.

"Now, if you think about mobile, there isn't even the ability to click on an ad so brands now need to have levels of engagement. Marketers need to know what is interesting - engaging - to a consumer, they need to know where a consumer interacted with an ad - was it shared, embedded, viewed? - and they need to know when the consumer reached their website."

To do all of those things, advertisers need to know more than that a consumer clicked on an ad; they need to know where site visitors went after clicking, whether they viewed a full videoor rich media ad or other interactions with the content. In addition to better metrics during the campaign, brands need to look at better ways of targeting ads before the campaign is launched.

Although video and rich media ad formats are sexier, display ads continue to show strong growth according to eMarketer, and that is likely due to the increased metrics available including Real Time Bidding (RTB) options.

"The display advertising market is showing continued intense growth, with a projected 14% increase in 2011," said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst. "That gain will be partially due to real-time bidding, which will make monetizing more pages easier for publishers. Furthermore, the growth of real-time bidding is also partially due to brand marketers' increased interest in buying display advertising."

RTB gives brands the ability to buy ad space based on ad location, impression information and other segmentation or tracking information available. In fact, eMarketer estimates that RTB options Display Ad's projected 14% growth in 2011.

Tags: ad measurement, advertising, advertising metrics, campaign performance, eMarketer, Jivox, video ads