AdWords New Feature: Video Ads
May 23, 2006
Google has just announced a new feature, AdWords Video Ads.
These ads will use the same formats as the current image ads, which means, prepare your designer for some serious work. Creating videos in so many sizes can be a bit of work.
While Google initially confirms it will use the same guidelines as image ads, slight variations like:
- Will the initial image be able to look like an image?
- Will the image allow a ‘click based’ call to action to watch the image?
- Will the ‘click charge’ be watching the video, or clicking through to the website?
- Will the ‘CPM’ charge be the page view, or the video being played?
There are quite a few pricing variations available, and without full knowledge of the system being announced, some of these questions can dramatically change the success of the new ad format.
Finally, unlike some intrusive advertising, users will have complete control. When a page loads, only a static image will be visible; the video will not start playing until the user initiates it. He or she will be able to advance the video, pause it, adjust the volume or click through to the advertiser’s site
This is quite interesting. It follows Google’s philosophy of giving the user control. However, that just magnifies the above questions. From an advertiser standpoint, of course, you’d want the image to start playing upon loading if you are paying on a CPM basis. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the bid auction pricing.
Overall, a good offering on the surface. The intent is there. Now, we’ll wait and see how well it is executed.
MSN Ignoring Robots.txt Files
May 13, 2006
Is MSN ignoring robots.txt files?
Here’s a screenshot from the MSN search for ‘Marissa Meyer’:
Here’s a screenshot of Google.ca’s robots.txt file:
Seems there’s a discrepancy between Google’s robots.txt file disallowing search results to be indexed and MSN having indexed the Google file: www.google.ca/search?q=marissa+meyer+google.
Might be time to start checking MSN results to make sure certain files aren’t being indexed.
Info on YSMs New Interface & Features
May 10, 2006
FYI – Can’t share most of my info about the new product, however, I can show mass emails that Yahoo sent out about their new YSM update.
The New Sponsored Search is Coming
Better Ways to Connect with Customers Will Make Your Advertising More Effective
You’ve told us your needs and we’ve listened. A completely redesigned search marketing platform is on its way, full of advanced, easy-to-use features that will help you better connect with Yahoo!’s vast and valuable audience.
As part of creating these enhancements, we met with advertisers of all sizes to hear first-hand the things they liked and didn’t like about Sponsored Search. We extensively reviewed all parts of our service, including the design, features and tools. The result of these efforts is the new Sponsored Search, which will make its debut this Fall.
Powerful New Features
The new features that will make advertising with Yahoo! better and more effective include:
- Easy-to-Use Control Panel
A completely redesigned, easy-to-navigate control panel will help you see what’s working and what’s not–at the level of detail you choose–so you can take action and get even better results.
- Fast Ad Activation
Most new ads will go online within minutes, allowing you to connect with customers quickly, and easily make changes to your ads whenever you need to.
- Ad Testing
Easily test multiple versions of an ad to find the message that works best for your customers and provides the greatest return on your advertising investment. You can then choose to shift impressions to the ad that performs best.
- Geo-Targeting
Display your ads broadly or narrow your geographic distribution to better target your customers, customize your ads and control your costs.
- Campaign Budgeting, Forecasting and Scheduling
Create, budget and schedule individual advertising campaigns for greater control over your advertising strategy and spending. Review forecasts of your potential clicks based on your bids and budget and see how many clicks you’re leaving to your competitors.
- Visibility
Understand how well your ads are performing relative to your competitors with the new Quality Index displayed for each ad. You’ll also see the bid range necessary for premium placement at the top of the search results page.
- Easy-to-Use Control Panel
A completely redesigned, easy-to-navigate control panel will help you see what’s working and what’s not–at the level of detail you choose–so you can take action and get even better results.Thoroughly Tested and Reviewed by Your Peers
These new features have been rigorously tested by your fellow advertisers and refined over time to ensure that we delivered a service that successfully addresses the obstacles you currently face. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve received, we are confident that the new Sponsored Search not only clears away those obstacles, but offers new and better ways to manage your account.Frequent and Detailed Communication with You
Beginning next month, we’ll begin to provide you with much more detailed information about all of the upcoming enhancements. To make your transition as smooth and easy as possible, we will provide:
- A series of emails with tips on how best to prepare your account
- In-depth articles on our new features in the advertiser newsletter
- A new Yahoo! Search Marketing blog–a community forum for tips, news and your comments, as well as the inside scoop from our own staff, to help you be more successful
- A dedicated toll-free phone number that will be available to you during your transition period, for any questions or concerns you may have
This is just the first step. After all advertisers have successfully transitioned to the new Sponsored Search, we plan to quickly introduce many more innovative products, features and tools that will give you even more ways to connect with customers.
As always, thank you for doing business with us. We look forward to delivering the new Sponsored Search to you later this year.
Video Game Advertising Speculation
May 10, 2006
I recently setup my xBox 360 to connect to the live service so I can see how Microsoft is using the xBox to combine users to MSN Spaces and bring the community together via both the living room (via xBox) and online (via computer) and how it will develop and act based upon services, advertising, and the total gaming experience.
I must admit, I was amazed at how easy the connection service was. I used wireless hardware to connect the xBox to my internet connection and it was a very smooth process. (After going through half a dozen routers, changing the WEP services, etc to connect TiVo via wireless, I was expecting a fight – but I didn’t get one). Immediately, it wanted to connect via a passport, which I supplied an extra one I have for certain purposes, and the connection process was amazing smooth. It pulled in my Microsoft Passport data and there was very little for me todo. Within 5 minutes I had connected a wireless router, connected to the web, connected to my Passport, and could access xBox extras and services. (Why isn’t the web this smooth?).
As I’m seeing how easy it is to download new content, upgrade games, receive automatic downloads, the advertising aspect of this really hit me. It’s very feasible to code objects, billboards, etc in to games and leave them as ‘generic’ or ‘default’ messages for those not connected to the web.
For those connected, it then becomes possible to skin these objects based upon the current advertiser base. Take for instance a bottle (Splinter Cell comes to mind as a Coke can was an integral part of the game for causing distractions). The bottle could be ‘bought’ by an ad company as the game’s generic fallback icon. However, when one is connected to the web, it’s suddenly very feasible that the bottle could be ’skinned’ based upon the current advertiser landscape, one’s demographic (MS has your passport data), one’s geography (Based upon IP address), and possibly search history or other web based components.
The same goes for in-game billboards. Imagine launching a new product and instead of buying 10k banner ads, one buys 10k ‘in-game’ billboards. The purpose of these is branding, association with a product, name recognition, etc – not direct ROI measurable sales. This opens up many possibilities to subsidize game manufacturers, change console interactions, give away certain games purely for the ad distribution, etc.
It is worth nothing that Microsoft announced at SAS they are acquiring Massive. Massive is one of the leaders in putting ads in video games and has several well established relationships with game publishers already. It will be interesting to see how they incorporate Massive in the the xBox live environment, their own published titles, and if they give their video game makers any special bonuses for incorporating Massive into video games.
Personalization is coming in search, with web based consoles, user subscriptions, billing information, gender information, location information, gaming preference, etc – serving ads based on some very interesting demographic and geographic targeting becomes quite viable, and even connected so a message can be delivered via the web and gaming console in a complimentary way.
This really hasn’t been talked about mainstream, it’s considered niche advertising, but when one compares the amount of time the average person spends on the web (not including playing games) vs how much time they spend looking at games (consoles, computer, and web), there is a huge opportunity that’s not being fully exploited, and it’s coming.
The question is, will you notice it?
Good advertising is part of the landscape, it blends in, it delivers a message, the user isn’t distracted.
Bad advertising can ruin a consoles reputation.
I would guess that in-game ads start off very conservative and very blended into the game to preserve the game’s integrity (remember, someone did shell out $49 for that video game), however, the branding and deliverability options through gaming integration will become quite amazing.
Something to keep an eye on, do you notice the video game ads?
Wichita State Usability News
May 10, 2006
Some interesting news on usability, especially as it relates to fonts from Wichita State.
Links:
Main Site
Font Comparison, which size and type are ‘best’?The last article has some very interesting data as it relates to prettiness, readability, and perception of a site based upon the fonts.
Here’s the conclusion if you’re too lazy to read the entire doc:
Several observations can be made regarding the examined font types. First, no significant differences in reading efficiency were detected between the font types at any size. There were, however, significant differences in reading time. Generally, Times and Arial were read faster than Courier, Schoolbook, and Georgia. Fonts at the 12-point size were read faster than fonts at the 10-point size. In addition, a font type x size interaction was found for the perception of font legibility. In general, however, Arial, Courier, and Georgia were perceived as the most legible.
For font attractiveness, Georgia was perceived as being more attractive than Arial, Courier, and Comic, while Times was perceived as more attractive than Courier. This contrasts with participants’ general preference for a particular font type. Overall, Verdana was the most preferred font, while Times was the least preferred. Thus it seems that the Georgia and Times serif fonts are considered more attractive, but they are generally less preferred. Of the fonts studied, Verdana appears to be the best overall font choice. Besides being the most preferred, it was read fairly quickly and was perceived as being legible.
As with all studies that examine reading performance, caution should be made in generalizing these outcomes to other font types. Many factors should be taken into account, such as individual text characteristics, the text size, the line and character spacing, the computer settings, as well as the user characteristics.
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