context

The Context Effect: How Context is Critical & Transforming Digital Advertising

As consumer concerns about privacy are growing and legislators are responding by introducing legal restrictions, marketers are focusing on contextual targeting (instead of cookies) to make their advertising more effective. Research by Integral Ad Science (IAS) has shown that the growth of contextual targeting is not only being embraced by marketers, but also welcomed by consumers: they prefer ads that match the content they are viewing – which makes them more relevant to them.

Neuroscience Got to the Heart of Esports Audiences

This presentation, based on research conducted jointly by Activision Blizzard and Alter,  looks at the power of gaming with emphasis on ROI. Jonathan provided the background of esports, which he defined as professional gaming organized across teams or leagues with a range of game types. Professional e-gaming has grown rapidly to 436 million global viewers as of 2020 and is a highly fragmented marketplace.

Leading the Next Frontier of Media Disruption

Scott introduced Marc Pritchard to the ARF stage with a discussion about the most important marketing and advertising measurement challenges in the industry and Procter & Gamble’s priorities in approaching solutions. While the perpetual fragmentation of the media ecosystem is complicating accurate measurement across platforms, advertisers still have the same simple questions, according to Marc. The consumer is the center of it all – how many people are advertisers reaching, how often are they reaching them, and how effective and efficient is the advertising itself?

Welcome to the Attention Dimension: Fundamentals of Attention Metrics for Media

The speaker, Marc Guldimann, founder of Parsec Media and co-founder Adelaide, is also a co-founder of The Attention Council. In his presentation he explained why he and the Council are promoting the use of attention metrics to help advertisers place ads into media environments that drive superior performance.

MODERATED TRACK DISCUSSIONS: Cross-Platform: Measurement & Identity

During the discussion, Duane Varan (MediaScience) and Steve Bellman (MediaScience & Ehrenberg-Bass Institute) discussed the metrics they used, the implications of their research for media planning, and the results of their research in the U.S. Sean Pinkney (Comscore) talked about the lessons he had taken away from his analysis of missing data.

Australia’s Largest Cross-Platform Study: The Power of News

According to the study’s sponsor, the research was prompted by many advertisers’ “ambivalence” about news as context for their ads. The study, the largest of its kind ever conducted, used an experimental design, placing comparable ads in newspapers and on digital platforms. Digital ads were placed in news and other contexts. The study was conducted in Australia, but U.S. data were also obtained. The analysis focused on three issues:

  1. Does the news context promote ad recall, positive attitudes about the product, and brand choice?
  2. Do ads work better on print or on digital platforms?
  3. What do the findings tell us about how advertising works in different contexts and on different platforms?

Quantifying the Value of Meaningful Media

Havas and Teads reported on eye-tracking research that they did with Lumen on a number of websites on both desktop and mobile. They then analyzed a number of factors related to attention to digital display and video ads including ad format, demographics, category of the site’s domain, type of content on the site and characteristics of the publisher environment. The research generally confirmed their hypothesis that deeper engagement with content, with lower scroll speeds, led to longer amounts of time that ads are in view and greater attention to those ads. Ads on Teads publishers’ sites, in particular, garner greater attention than other digital ads, and Teads’ formats garner more attention than standard ads in the same category, particularly for display. This research has helped Havas to quantify the value of their inventory to optimize planning for attention and develop a curated approach to programmatic. They refer to this approach as the “Havas Meaningful Market Place.”

The Relevance and Power of Context in Today’s Media Environment

The ARF Cognition Council presented an event focused on advertising within news content and context effects in programmatic buying. The first panel presented research on the effectiveness of advertising within news content on television and online, drawing from available qualitative, quantitative, and neuroscience evidence. The second panel delved into the potential opportunity for the context in which an ad is placed to be used in programmatic buying as the third-party cookie becomes less important.

A Peek Behind the Curtain at Improv-Driven Insights

On February 24, 2022, the ARF Creative Council brought to light a new method for brain-storming great advertising creative. Industry leaders partnered with improv experts to showcase how combining qualitative research and the art of improvisation can kick-start innovative advertising ideas.

Context Adjacency: A Data-Driven Approach to Concerns Around the Risk of Content Adjacent to Ads

On October 12, 2022, experts from Meta, the Brand Safety Institute and the ARF discussed brand risk for ads placed near unsuitable content on social media feed platforms. Meta researchers presented their data-driven measurement approach and their conclusions that there is minimal-to-no association for content adjacent to ads and that ad adjacency to risky content does not impact brand value.

The process for Certification of the Meta Project by the ARF was outlined. Additionally, the panel considered how consumers engage with ads on a feed platform differently than they engage with ads on more traditional platforms with different potential outcomes for ads adjacent to risky content.

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