Jeep tests mobile ad formats for viewability and engagement
Jeep has partnered with ad tech firm InSkin Media to test its new “PageSkin Edge” mobile ad format, which is being pitched as “non-intrusive” for better viewability, engagement and revenue rates. Early results have been promising, achieving viewability rates of 95%, an average in-view time of 43 seconds per impression and over 30% of all impressions remaining viewable for over one minute. Jeep executives believe the PageSkin Edge format offers numerous new ways for marketers to make mobile advertising more effective, and it is suggested that brands need to create advertising experiences that are more suitable for phones, as the IAB reports that smartphones account for 45% of internet time but only 27% of ad spend.

Jeep is testing mobile display ad formats that promise better viewability and deeper engagement, driven by the belief that ads on such devices can be used for more than performance campaigns.

The car marque, like most marketers, has laboured to use mobile for branding building purposes in part due to a dearth of creative ad formats. To solve that issue, Jeep partnered with ad tech company InSkin Media and is testing its ‘PageSkin Edge’ format, which is pitched as “non-intrusive” that remains “in view at all times”.

As the reader scrolls through the content, the right-hand side element, with branding and calls to action, scrolls the page as well, and consequently remains in view. What this means (in theory) is the ads never obscure the content and don’t interrupt the reader’s experience. Readers are taken to a new web page, app or microsite when they click on the ad but are returned to the original point on the page where clicked on the ad so as to easily continue reading.

Early results show signs of promise; the test campaign achieved an average in-view time of 43 seconds per impression, with over 30 per cent of all impressions in view for over a minute. The viewability rate was 95 per cent. However, it’s an unlikely that Jeep will stop using clicks as a KPI anytime soon should the tests continue to be positive, but the brand-led metrics it has been using will play a bigger role the more it starts to use formats like ‘Pageskin Edge’ to drive awareness - high viewability and long dwell times imply brand exposure and engagement. The challenge is how it now shares those insights with the wider business.

“In our experience, display advertising can be engaging on mobile - we use progressive formats like InSkin's which strike a balance between user experience and making the best use of the available space, in conjunction with other media solutions, to engage throughout the funnel, whatever the device,” said Michelle Davis, digital communications manager at Jeep.

“We think display on mobile will always play a part in the media mix in some form. Users are picking up their mobile over other devices more and more and advertisers will need to adapt to this change. There is still a lot of potential in mobile that is yet to be discovered and feel that with the likes of the PageSkin Edge users will become more accustomed to mobile display and allow it to have a place in the conversion funnel as well as working with native and in-mobile messaging.”

Despite getting closer to serving 100 per cent in-view ads, Davis doesn’t believe marketers will be able to buy viewable impressions anytime soon. “As a notion it [ a viewable impression] makes complete sense, but I think that the mechanics to truly trade on viewable impressions are far from robust enough to be able to commit to it. We're keen on it in principal.

The format is just one of a plethora of ways advertisers are trying to turn mobile into an effective media; smartphones account for 45 per cent of internet time, but only 27 per cent of ad spend, according to the IAB. Whether its apps or native content, brands are increasingly wise to the fact that they need to move away from traditional banners and creating experiences tailored to the phone instead of using repurposed TV content.

Simply re-purposing desktop formats has not worked for either publisher revenue or for consumer experience,” said Tom Knapp, InSkin Media’s chief operating officer at InSkin Media.

This format addresses both issues; it delivers high dwell times and interaction rates for advertisers, which increase publisher revenue while reflecting the IAB’s L.E.A.N principles, in being lightweight and ‘polite’, giving less reason to block ads.”