Ginny Marvin says, “After taking many steps in this direction, Google announced Tuesday that it will finally stop serving Flash formatted display ads. As of June 30, 2016, advertisers will no longer be able to upload new Flash ads into AdWords or DoubleClick. The final hit will happen on January 2, 2017, when Flash ads will no longer be eligible to run on Google’s ad networks. All display ads are to be built in HTML5. Oddly, video ads built in Flash won’t be affected by these deadlines, the company says. There’s no word when similar changes will affect video. This is the final of many... [...]

Rob Litterst says, “Every publisher wants to stand out from the crowd, but the days of one-size-fits-all content creation are over. The reason why? Content marketing is a double-edged sword. As companies realize that it works, they want to invest in it more—which means that there’s more information being published on the Internet than ever before. Some media companies are responding and trying to outsmart the crowd by producing more content, generating more listicles, and writing more ‘quick wins’ and listicles. But keep in mind: many consumers view these actions as noise. The tech... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Do consumers actually notice online display ads served on Web pages? Which format of ads do people look at and engage with the most? To find out, Meditative conducted an eye-tracking study of 39 participants of mixed ages who were assigned certain search tasks. Digital display ads were shown in the leaderboard (728×90), skyscraper (300×600) and big box (300×250) positions across both Web-page mock-ups and actual sites. With data from the study, the researchers were able to generate heat maps showing the length of time spent looking at various parts of the... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “In 2012, investors were anxious that Facebook was behind the curve of consumer mobile adoption. Since that time, Facebook has built a massive multi-billion-dollar mobile business that captures a huge chunk of available mobile ad spending. Yesterday, Facebook announced a $5.8-billion quarter, the majority of which is ad revenue ($5.6 billion). The company also reported that an astounding 80 percent of its ad revenue ($4.5 billion) was generated by mobile advertising. That represented revenue growth of 81 percent year over year. The company added that 90 percent of its... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “Unlike many hotel brands that strive for a consistent look and feel, part of the value proposition of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), a hospitality consortium with 425 hotels worldwide, is that each hotel is unique. From the fabled King David Hotel in Jerusalem to The Ritz Hotel in London (featured in the film “Notting Hill”), customers have a plethora of experiences to choose from. With such a diverse offering, online advertising, content and customer journey challenges that face every brand loom especially large for LHW. I sat down with Debbie Johnsen,... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Depending on whom you talk to, ad blocking is either overblown or an emerging crisis. There’s data to support both positions. One thing is clear, however: it’s an issue that’s not going away. That’s partly because entrepreneurs have now latched onto it as an opportunity. The latest example is a new mobile browser called Brave. It’s still in beta and not yet widely available, but it will be soon. Brave was developed by a team led by Brendan Eich, who co-founded Mozilla and created JavaScript. Brave is for both the desktop and mobile devices. Its primary adoption... [...]

Zak Stambor says, “Google appears to be testing a layout on search results in which Product Listing Ads take up nearly the entire search results page. Google Inc. appears to be testing a new display for its Product Listing Ads—the listings that show a product’s image, price and the retailer selling it prominently in Google results for product-related searches. In the new format that appears on some searches Google showcases 16 PLAs to consumers on desktops, far more than the usual number. Google typically presents PLAs in one of two ways to desktop users: It may show a “container”... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “66% of marketers believe location-based advertising is the ‘most exciting’ mobile opportunity for 2016, according to a recent IAB UK study I quoted in our digital marketing stats round-up.  This is a huge endorsement from the marketing community, but how many people really use this channel to its full potential? For those still relatively new to the term, or for anyone wanting to refresh their knowledge, I’ve created this location-based advertising guide for you. What is location-based advertising? Location-based advertising hinges around the fact that wherever... [...]

eMarketer team says, “Mobile already accounts for more than half of digital ad spending in the US, and its share is growing. Register here for a complimentary eMarketer webinar, “Mobile Advertising—5 Things You Need to Know Now,” to learn key facts and trends about the state of mobile advertising: Why even though overall spending skews toward mobile, most brands don’t think they’re spending half their digital budgets on the channel What opportunities lie in location-based marketing beyond geofencing Why marketers need to embrace ad IDs and cut the cookie cord Which metrics to monitor... [...]

Shelby Dorsey says, “To be honest, I don’t even see them most of the time. It is as if the top and sides of the webpage I’m looking at are blurred—I know they’re there, but I don’t even notice them. For this, I thank “banner blindness.” Banner blindness is the result of templated or “best practice” page layouts that place banner ads in specific places, such as the very top center of the page or on the far right side of the page. Why is it called “blindness”? The ad is there, but we ignore it because our minds have “seen that, done that” so many times before. We have... [...]