Dive Brief:
- The Weather Company is introducing a new animated background native advertising format according to a company press release.
- The branded backgrounds appear in full screen behind the current forecast screen on the mobile app and change to reflect a user's local weather conditions. Animation is used to depict the local weather.
- Disney is the first brand to take advantage of the new format, with ads for "Moana," which opens on Nov. 23, encouraging users to purchase tickets at Moanatickets.com
Dive Insight:
The Weather Company previously offered a native background ad on mobile, that a number of brands tooks advantage of. The new version with animations points to the need for immersive and entertaining marketing experiences on mobile to better engage users.
The idea of a background ad is interesting on mobile devices because the format isn’t as intrusive to the user experience as an interstitial or pop up ad that completely interrupts the main app. Developing new formats that are engaging without being intrusive is a priority for the marketing industry as use of ad blocking grows. A number of industry groups are attempting to address the problem and The Weather Channel news shows that technology companies are making it a priority as well.
The Weather Channel was acquired by IBM last year and earlier this year, the former's data was integrated wtih the latter's AI technology to offer personalized marketing based on hyper-local weather forecasts.
The importance of weather data to contextual mobile advertising is also evident in xAD's recent acquisition of WeatherBug.
The "Moana" campaign will run from November 18 to 24. The Weather Company’s app has almost 15 million daily U.S. users.