Let us begin by telling you how an average Indian shops today:
- Search for the latest products.
- Start getting targeted ads.
- Look at online catalogs.
- Get more targeted ads.
- Search for online reviews.
- Make purchase decisions through reviews on social media.
- Buy.
This flowchart may seem small, but there are great tools here to keep the buying process moving forward. And the key is good advertising.
In a world where 66.6% of the total global population uses a mobile phone, digital advertising has taken over. According to Forrester Research, 46% of the worldwide ad expense in 2021 is on digital ads. Amidst all digital ads, the video ad format will maintain its dominance as prominent players enter the field. Even Instagram recently declared itself a video reel platform, focusing on creators and video, specifically.
At such times, it is vital to understand the existing, new, and upcoming ad formats that can dictate the future of digital advertising.
Photo
As images are the base of most digital platforms, image ad format is one of the best to drive traffic to websites. Nowadays, photo ads are getting so innovative and interactive that ads on Inshorts come in a news format only, making it harder to distinguish between short-form news and advertising. Even panoramas and 360° photos on Facebook serve as interactive ad formats.
Video
Be it skippable or non-skippable video ads, they perform very well on all social media platforms and even on YouTube, Google, and several mobile apps. These entertaining ads immediately grab the audience’s attention and hold onto it for at least five seconds before they can skip it. The video ad format is also great for creating brand awareness and recall without bothering the audience.
Text
No matter how complicated everything gets, simplicity is always attractive. That’s how existing text ad formats keep maintaining their significance. Text-only ads mostly feature the brand name or logo and the message they want to convey. If it resonates with the audience, which it will if you rely on data, your campaign is successful.
Stories
Almost all social media sites have their rendition of stories these days. The story ad format is excellent for images, videos, and text advertising to improve their reach. These sponsored content pieces are also linked to their websites so that the users can easily navigate from the ads to the service.
Carousel
Carousel ads are like many options on any product or service, shown in a sequence. This new ad format became an instant hit with advertisers, as they often tell a story while showcasing the catalog. Most fashion and lifestyle brands are leveraging this format extensively. Carousel ad format can include both images and videos, per the strategy’s demands. They are a type of lead form ad format that is solely dedicated to lead generation.
Collection
Popularly available on Instagram and Facebook, collection ads are inviting storefronts that showcase the best products to offer. Tapping on the ad can take the users to a fast-loading instant experience, to surf more without leaving the app. Such ad formats are also pushing towards social media and e-commerce.
Interactive
To create a unique individual identity, companies also opt for interactive ad format, where the audience has to interact with it. Research shows that people spend about 47% more time with an interactive ads than generic ones. By developing a personalized experience through data collection, enterprises can get their customers to trust them more, too. Customers can participate in polls, experience 360° viewing ads, and more in interactive ad format.
Push notifications
Even though push notifications are almost absent on iOS, they give tough competition to all ad formats by catering to about two billion Android users worldwide, i.e., 69.744% of mobile users. All kinds of carousel and text ads can be pushed to devices through push notifications, best for increasing page views and clicks. The average click rate of push notifications is 7.8%, combining iOS and Android data.
Comments
People share their opinions about any post through their comments in the digital space. But an upcoming ad format trend suggests that comments can be used to advertise products by posing as recommendations. Before purchasing any product, active users search for them on social media and read the comments. By targeting the comment space, positive words can easily be advertised.
Micro-Videos
Rising to prominence with TikTok, micro-videos are now widely incorporated in all social media platforms, including Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. About 2 billion viewers access YouTube Shorts every month. Similarly, Instagram Reels also attracts 22% more engagement than any regular post. Since this trend of micro-videos is on the rise, advertising through them is an upcoming trend.
To Sum Up
More and more companies are opting for social media and digital advertising to reach a vast audience base. Data analytics and insights are at the bottom of such personalized and programmatic advertising, but it can be challenging to keep up with the emerging trends. This is why brands look for solutions that support all ad formats across platforms – display, audio, native, mobile, social, etc.
Aroscop offers data-driven marketing solutions to help marketers make informed decisions by leveraging AI and machine learning or creating future-proof advertising technology. By mobilizing cohorts of audience and unifying all data sources, advertising can be the most effective for all brands struggling until now to launch their successful campaigns.
