360-Ads, although slow out of the gate, have been garnering more attention as a more immersive form of interactive advertising. According to James Hill of Teads, a video ad marketplace, they are experiencing twice the amount of through-rates with 360-video ads, compared to their benchmark for ads that utilize the more common, standard video format. Patricia Lopez, head of Mobext UK, reported that a recent mobile video ad that they produced for an auto client received 40 seconds of viewership inside the 360-video ad. Lopez states, “That added layer of interactivity enables consumers to engage.”
In the busy, bustling world of constant input, whether that be from a laptop, television, mobile, etc, time is a premium. According to Alex Smith, head of digital planning at Maxus Global, “People are more time-poor than ever, so committing to an ad is a big ask for people. We need to make it valuable for them.”
As with any type of ad, one of the largest hurdles is to initially get a person to interact with the ad. Chairman of VCCP Media, Paul Mead, said that 360-video ads are experiencing a similar conversion rate as standard video ads. However, once the user commits to the ad and starts to interact with it, 360-video ads excel when it comes to how they perform. Mead notes, “People are not always in the mood to play with a video and explore all its many possibilities…just because it is possible doesn’t mean it is probable.”
Although 360-video ads are a fairly new type of advertising, one that can produce a much more immersive and enjoyable experience than a standard video ad, there are some inherent difficulties that it will face. Getting a user to view an ad is the ever elusive goal of an advertisement. Will 360-video be able to produce an experience that users will be actually be on the lookout for…only time will tell.
