DIGITAL ADVERTISING - THE NEW FISH IN TOWN

INTRODUCTION:

With increase in internet access to people, the marketers are concentrating on digital advertising rather than on traditional modes of advertising like TV and print, which is otherwise costly. Also modes of online advertising like search have become saturated giving pace to digital advertising. Though it is an extension of online advertising, with increase in usage of mobile phones and tablets, it has become a compulsion to put few forms in a category and hence coin the term.

            

A report by comScore identified India as one among the worlds’ top internet markets. There are approximately 22.7 crore internet users in the country out of which 50% use on mobile devices. Last year, Google India has announced that half of its revenue i.e. around INR 1000 crore was from digital advertising. Other popular websites like hungama.com, gaana.com are also making huge revenues through advertising online. Many factors involved in this advertising form have made it popular in the present days.

            

In this article, various components involved in digital advertising are first discussed to get a brief idea. Later the advantages are penned, which eventually are the reasons for the above mentioned statistics. Other factors which made this popular in the recent time are also discussed.

COMPONENTS:

Digital advertising takes many forms few of which are listed below:

Display Ads: They display various objects in web banner forms. Depending on the size of advertisement they are categorized as Banners & Leader boards, Buttons, Rectangles & Boxes, and Skyscrapers.

Search Ads: They are of textual type and generally lead to company’s website. They are simple, cheap and hence widely accepted.

Mobile Ads: As the no. of mobile users has gone up to 80 million, advertisements on these platforms have become a necessity. Also as people browsing on mobile belong to higher economic class, targeting ads specific to them may gain results.WAP / Browser Based Ads, In-App Advertisements, Short Messaging Services (SMS) are typical types.

ADVANTAGES:

Many organizations have a budget allocated for this form of advertising due to the advantages it 

Reach: This medium targets niche segments based on demographics and have wide geographical reach at least cost. It has grown hugely that every advertiser knows optimal ways of investment.

Measurement: As the payment terms are based on the reach, advertisers know how and where to invest. Also as measuring ROI is possible with this, the effectiveness can be measured and any subsequent changes can be made.

Interactive and Engaging: Among all other advertising medium, digital form has more interaction with the audience. By engaging with the end users, brands are able to communicate better.

Creative: Various multimedia tools available can be used for creative designs. These make them more powerful and effective.

Time: Large audience can be reached in a very short span of time. In making ambush marketing and campaigns, this is effective.

Cost: This is a cheaper mode with various payment models available depending on the reach and conversion. Also as unimportant groups are left out, cost of reach is reduced.

Also by personalizing messages, the advertisers are able to increase user experience and sell their product. Researchers have termed this manipulation as “nudging for profit”. In this the companies collect data about customers in various forms and understand their psychology to make prices, create offers and reduce any perceptions of risk.

Also various payment models have matured making it easy to pay based on performance.

Attribution Method	Description
CTR	It is the no. of clicks per impressions seen.
Last Click	Full credit is given to the ad that is clicked just before conversion.
Last Impression or Viewthrough	Full credit is given to the ad that is seen just before conversion.
Weighted	Weightage is given to all ads that are seen before the conversion with more importance to first and last seen ones.
Panel	Various experiments are done with known audience and results are measures accordingly.
Regression	This uses some algorithm in which various factors that have lead to conversion are considered and regression is done accordingly.

With all these dynamics, it is now a popular form of advertising among the marketers as well as people. By identifying proper metrics suitable for their campaign and having flexible approaches, managers can make effective use of this and continue to grow in the future.