Comments on: Display Is Dead! There, I Said It.

By: Ali Reid

Ali Reid — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:38:17 +0000

I’ve never clicked on display ads anyway. Can’t trust them. Especially Flash.

By: Len Kendall

Len Kendall — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:06:25 +0000

The “death” or significant decline of display advertising is probable, but the subsequent reality then is that so is the concept of standard metrics. The goal of making the CTR the equivalent of the GRP which ruled for decades isn’t going to happen.

The web is offering avenues, or rather consumers are creating avenues that are rapidly changing where a brand can exist. If syndicating content becomes the new means of branding, then trying to measure all things equally will be virtually impossible. Content doesn’t come in the same package anymore (the 30 second spot or the IAB size banner) it comes in the form of how consumers want it. Does a million views of a YouTube video equal a million impressions? Does a microblog “tweet” to 5000 followers equal 5000 impressions?

These are questions that people will certainly work towards answering, but that doesn’t mean they are 100% accurate. Most people in the advertising industry understand that despite our ability to quantify, this is still an art and not just a science. As mediums blur AND expand brands/agencies/publishers are going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable with how they define success.

By: Allan

Allan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:42:08 +0000

Search has won – no doubt about that. In-game advertising may be big, maybe not. All sorts of advertising for video, pre-roll, post-roll, etc. might gain some traction. But can you really see a world where old fashioned display ads are extinct? Certainly the fewer marketers that use display will lead to lower rates, making it at some point worth investing in. Does increasing bandwidth affect your conclusions at all? I’m guessing not.

By: Dominique Hind

Dominique Hind — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:17:36 +0000

Display advertising may be dead in the true direct response sense, but it still plays a valuable role in branding. While it is hard to place a value on the brand element, if you aren’t their your competitors are and they are continuing to spend more and more of their money in the space.

There are a lot of smart things that can be done with serving dynamic display advertising, especially when coupled/combined with search keywords and retargeting. The response rates on combining search and display are obviously a lot higher than just display by itself. It you include site retargeting in the mix as well, the results tend to increase as well.

I think your statement should be ‘Display advertising as a direct response channel is dead, but used in conjunction with search/corporate website retargeting it can be an extremely cost effective channel’. That isn’t taking into account the branding element of display advertising.

By: Marketer

Marketer — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:45:42 +0000

Blog posts or articles declaring some form of communication is dead make for a great attention grabber. The reality, however, is that CMO’s now have a broad set of tools to achieve the results they are looking for. To say that display is dead or that the 30 second spot is dead misses the point. Blanket statements ignore the nuances necessary to connect with any given audience. For some, a 30 second ad or display ad might make perfect sense as part of the marketing mix for a given product or service. In fact, I think that the introduction of these broad range of tools makes all of the mediums more exciting to work within. As marketers we are now asking, how can this tool best be used in this new media landscape.