Good-bye pop-ups, hello banners
Internet users annoyed by the pop-up ads they occasionally encounter on their favourite portals have reason to rejoice.
Advertising professionals say that while the Internet is continuing to gain respect as a serious advertising medium in the traditional mix of television, print, radio and billboards, new intrusive online ads will eventually lose out to tried-and-true forms.
Besides pop-ups, new and pricey online ad innovations, such as "ghosts" which float across the screen and top-layers that cover entire web pages, will likely be purchased by companies during the next six months. But eventually they will be abandoned for simpler online ads, including buttons, banners, mega-banners which are two to three times larger than regular banners, and skyscrapers, or vertical ad banners.
"This innovation is a double-edged sword," said Krzysztof Modzelewski, chief executive of Emerging Analysis Corporation, owner of Warsaw-based Internet market-research firm I-Metria. "We see a pendulum swinging in the other direction: a consolidation to several tried-and-true advertising formats at normalised prices." He added that while such creative ads provide more choice for clients, they tend to prolong the advertising process, as companies must spend more time selecting which formats to use in their online campaigns.
So far, some firms with sizeable ad budgets, especially large ones such as mobile-phone operators or virtual banks, have been willing to shell out for expensive pop-up ads, but usually only to accompany larger campaigns in broadcast and print media. Few have been willing to pay fees that can run zł. 50,000-zł. 60,000 for a one-day campaign on a portal reaching about half a million users, according to Marek Rusiecki, managing director of Ad.net, which sells online ad spaces to around 120 small clients.
Although pop-ups bring in the most ad revenue for portals, operators will not disclose the amounts they earn from them. While estimates for total online ad sales vary somewhat, they reached around €6.8 million (zł. 28 million) last year for cash deals alone. This year advertising professionals expect an increase of 10%-15%.
As Internet usage in the country increases, companies see the net as a means of increasing their consumer reach. The number of Internet users increased by 44% last year to 5.2 million, according to a recent report by the market-research firm SMG/KRC. Still, online ads will continue to occupy a small part of corporate advertising allocations with about 1% compared with other media, with television - which guarantees an almost 100% audience reach - continuing to receive the lion's share of ad money.
"Big companies will mainly stick with TV ... (but) today we are at the point where we can consider the Internet as an advertising medium because of the number of users," said Marcin Skowroński, interactive media manager at media house Mediacom Warszawa. "This way of communicating is cheaper than newspapers or direct mailing."
Advertising professionals say that while the Internet is continuing to gain respect as a serious advertising medium in the traditional mix of television, print, radio and billboards, new intrusive online ads will eventually lose out to tried-and-true forms.
Besides pop-ups, new and pricey online ad innovations, such as "ghosts" which float across the screen and top-layers that cover entire web pages, will likely be purchased by companies during the next six months. But eventually they will be abandoned for simpler online ads, including buttons, banners, mega-banners which are two to three times larger than regular banners, and skyscrapers, or vertical ad banners.
"This innovation is a double-edged sword," said Krzysztof Modzelewski, chief executive of Emerging Analysis Corporation, owner of Warsaw-based Internet market-research firm I-Metria. "We see a pendulum swinging in the other direction: a consolidation to several tried-and-true advertising formats at normalised prices." He added that while such creative ads provide more choice for clients, they tend to prolong the advertising process, as companies must spend more time selecting which formats to use in their online campaigns.
So far, some firms with sizeable ad budgets, especially large ones such as mobile-phone operators or virtual banks, have been willing to shell out for expensive pop-up ads, but usually only to accompany larger campaigns in broadcast and print media. Few have been willing to pay fees that can run zł. 50,000-zł. 60,000 for a one-day campaign on a portal reaching about half a million users, according to Marek Rusiecki, managing director of Ad.net, which sells online ad spaces to around 120 small clients.
Although pop-ups bring in the most ad revenue for portals, operators will not disclose the amounts they earn from them. While estimates for total online ad sales vary somewhat, they reached around €6.8 million (zł. 28 million) last year for cash deals alone. This year advertising professionals expect an increase of 10%-15%.
As Internet usage in the country increases, companies see the net as a means of increasing their consumer reach. The number of Internet users increased by 44% last year to 5.2 million, according to a recent report by the market-research firm SMG/KRC. Still, online ads will continue to occupy a small part of corporate advertising allocations with about 1% compared with other media, with television - which guarantees an almost 100% audience reach - continuing to receive the lion's share of ad money.
"Big companies will mainly stick with TV ... (but) today we are at the point where we can consider the Internet as an advertising medium because of the number of users," said Marcin Skowroński, interactive media manager at media house Mediacom Warszawa. "This way of communicating is cheaper than newspapers or direct mailing."
