Ads are here to stay… but at least you have choice

I was watching a video on the news website The Age yesterday when I noticed an advertising strategy that I hadn’t seen before. We all know that ads are everywhere, and on television the 30 second ad is ubiquitous. Just like on television, online content has developed an advertising model of what’s known as pre-roll ads, which is a 15 second ad that plays before you video is about to start.

However The Age did something different in that it allowed you to choose the ad you were going to watch (see the pic below).  There was a countdown of about 10 seconds, and if you didn’t select the ad you were interested in one would be picked for you, so most people would click on an ad to save a few seconds, and most likely they’ll click on the ad that is of most interest to them. I can imagine this being more effective then serving a blanket advertisement to everyone; for example if someone is thinking of buying a car they’re more likely to click the car ad.

Select which ad you want to see, and you save yourself 10 seconds.