ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

History Channel raises creativity bar with takeover native experience ads

The History Channel and on-demand media streamer Netflix are a few initial experimenters to try new native experience ads that appear on publishing Web sites and take over the user?s entire screen.

So far, the ads have shown some success, garnering an average view time of 57 seconds. Delivered in partnership by international media and marketing solutions company Gannett and New York-based SaaS analytics company Moat, these particular ads, appearing on USAToday.com, show the brands? reliance on native advertising.  

?The ads appear to be successful, in my opinion, due to the fact that they are big and therefore more noticeable combined with the fact that the content is engaging,? said Jonah Goodhart, CEO at MoatNew York. ?At any time the user can skip it or move on with their news. 

?The fact that people sit there and watch, I think, is a good signal that the ads are high quality. It definitely raises the bar for creative though which I think is good.?

Taking over
A few of Gannett?s sites will begin running what the company has dubbed as Gravity ads, which are ads that take over a user?s computer screen and push a video ad, in many cases, a TV-spot at the front and center.

The Gravity ad unit comes equipped with Moat?s Attention Analytics metrics to help marketers better understand the effectiveness of the units.

The Gravity ad unit aims to remove the mystery of cost per click metrics by providing authentic, in-depth performance analytics about viewability and exposure time. 

The History Channel?s ad for its mini-series Houdini appeared on USAToday.com. When the site is visited, a trailer for the show appears and takes full screen.

At the bottom center of the screen, an arrow is shown and a notice reads, ?Get the news.? Users can continue to scroll down to read the news, and if they scroll back to the top, the trailer continues playing.

Similarly, a Netflix ad starring Ricky Gervais and Netflix outtakes appears and also takes over the screen when visiting USAToday.com

The ads contain links to YouTube for viewers to watch more.

Impressive results
Moat has found some favorable results from the Gravity ads. 

The two found that the average consumer in-view time, compared to an industry benchmark of 20 seconds, was 57 seconds, and there was an 83 percent in-view rate, compared to the industry benchmark in-view rate of 48 percent.

The interaction rate was 63 percent, and the attention quality rate was 88 percent, compared to a benchmark interaction rate of 2.7 percent and an attention quality benchmark of 27.8 percent.

Successful advertising, that garners interactivity, is accomplished when brands are able to provide some source of entertainment. Some consumers are turned off by ads, resulting in a further need for ads to be less disruptive. 

However, Mr. Goodhart believes that consumers? most important brands and their announcements will always attract them, even if it sources from advertising.

Moat claims that more than 50,000 ad industry professionals use its free digital ad search engine each month, which is used to track where brands are advertising online and what creative they are placing in those areas. 

Moat?s products Moat Analytics, for publishers, and Moat Pro, for agencies and brands, have been created to lend insight into digital ad intelligence across Web site display and mobile.

"I don't know that I would agree ads need to be less intrusive,? Mr. Goodhart said. ?As consumers, we all say that but then when you think about the brands that influence our lives, they tend to be big brand advertisers who buy, for example, lots and lots of TV spots which take over the entire TV, including sound, and make it impossible to see your content during the ad. 

?I think the idea of more integrated native ads are great, but I also think that push marketing works at scale, and it is how we have always experienced advertising at least for the last 50 years or so.?

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York