Google?s AMP meets mobile ads for faster brand experiences
With Google bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages to ads and landing pages for the first time, launching programmatic buying for native ads and signing a new global programmatic partnership with Time Warner, the company is carrying the torch for better mobile ad experiences.
During a live stream presentation yesterday from Google?s DoubleClick Leadership Summit, the focus was on faster, well-integrated mobile ads. A Time Warner executive who participated in the presentation pointed to the company?s desire to scale up its digital marketing as a reason why it is partnering with Google.
?We believe that the companies that have a high fidelity view of their customers? actions, behaviors and intent are the companies will own the future,? said Kristen O?Hara, chief marketing officer at Time Warner Inc. ?And, arguably, Google is better positioned than anyone to provide a powerful signal of consumer intent but also give us the context to help us win in all the moments that matter to our customers.
?We want to leverage this insight within each our business units across all of our business units,? she said.
Faster ads
With Google?s significant search business under increasing price pressure as lower-cost mobile search grows, the company is astutely sharpening its focus on other, potentially lucrative areas of mobile advertising.
Google thinks ads on the mobile Web should be faster. This objective is the next step in the company?s AMP project, which was launched last year for publishers? content pages, boasting 145 million pages created so far. Washington Post and other early adopters are experiencing page load times that are up to four times faster with AMP HTML.
However, with faster content pages, there is a stark difference when mobile ads load at a slower pace. Viewers can even scroll past an ad before it loads.
With AMP for Ads advertisers can build ads in AMP HTML so that both content and ads load simultaneously.
AMP Landing Pages, also new, are custom pages built to extend the experience when someone clicks on an AMP ad.
?Google?s largest competition is mobile apps because the user experience is so much better ? this should help their market share by closing the UX gap,? said Evan Magliocca, brand marketing manager at Baesman Insights & Marketing. ?Mobile is the largest growing channel and they?ve created a solve for the biggest barrier in the mobile sphere ? slow load times.
?For advertisers, the ads will be a huge step forward,? he said. ?They?re going to push a mediocre platform ? heavy load times, badly designed ads etc. ? to evolve.
?AMP ads should also increase CTR, many mobile users actually scroll down faster than ads can load. AMP will increase visibility and click-through.?
Programmatic native buying
In another attempt to enhance mobile ad experiences, Google wants to scale up the use of native advertising on mobile, which can be less disruptive for users, by enabling advertisers to buy native ads programmatically for the first time in DoubleClick Bid Manager across all screens.
The process of building and trafficking native ads is still largely manual, per Google. By automating the process, Google hopes to accelerate adoption.
Advertisers will be able to upload ad assets such as a headline, image and text, instead of having to provide fully designed creative. DoubleClick will automatically assemble the assets to fit the context and format of the site or app where they appear.
Additionally, publishers can now make native ad inventory across Web and apps available programmatically.
Building partnerships
The new global partnership with Time Warner is an example of the interest in programmatic buying.
DoubleClick will work with all of Time Warner?s businesses, networks and brands as well as its agencies for programmatic buying, ad serving and measurement.
Google reports it is experiencing strong growth in programmatic, with video spend by advertisers using Programmatic Direct on DoubleClick Bid Manager growing more than seven times.
?User experience is going to be the leading edge of this new set of innovations,? said Paul Muret, vice president of display, video and analytics at Google, during yesterday?s presentation. ?They need to be fast, they need to be super integrated and native.
?We want to make sure they?re rich and immersive in experience,? he said.