What You Need to Know About Native Advertising

Posted on September 22, 2021September 22, 2021 by Mindstream Media Group

Let’s talk about a massive advertising opportunity that has been flying under the radar for a lot of advertisers. It’s not that advertisers have ignored this opportunity, it’s more that they don’t really understand it. The opportunity we’re talking about is native advertising – a misunderstood format with serious potential for brands.

In 2021, U.S. advertisers will spend over $57 billion on native ads, which represents almost two-thirds of all digital display spending. In other words, it’s a pretty big deal. Still, even in the marketing and advertising worlds, not everyone is 100 percent sure what native advertising even means or what types of ads fall under its umbrella.

Some of that uncertainty lies in the nomenclature. When someone says “TV commercial” or “paid search ad” it’s fairly simple to figure out what they mean. But “native advertising” isn’t as intuitive. So, let’s take some time to peel back the layers of this [native advertising] onion and help marketers like you understand how to incorporate native advertising into your Q4 2021 and 2022 media strategy.

What is native advertising?

Let’s start with a softball question: what is native advertising? Here’s a simple definition from our friends at eMarketer:

“Digital display ads that follow the form, feel and function of the content of the media on which they appear, be it a webpage or an app.”

The key to native advertising is its non-disruptive nature. Ads don’t really look like ads; they integrate so smoothly with the page content and design they feel natural or “native.”

What do native ads look like?

Native ads come in several formats and on a variety of channels and platforms. Here’s a look at some of the more popular native ad formats.

In-feed ads

In-feed ads are paid social media posts that display in users’ feeds along with organic posts, usually with the denotation “Promoted” near the top of the post.

In-app reward videos

In-app reward videos appear in mobile apps and reward users for watching (e.g., Pandora videos that offer extended periods of uninterrupted listening after users watch them).

How can I use native ads in my digital media strategy?

For creative advertisers, native ads offer plenty of opportunities to drive results throughout the consumer buying journey. The key is focusing on your target audiences’ needs, demonstrating how you provide value to those audiences and building purposeful campaigns. After you lock in those three components, it’s a lot easier to decide which formats to use.

Focusing on your target audience

Before you start building your campaign, make sure you have a clear idea of the types of consumers you’re trying to reach. Conduct in-depth research into your target audience to figure out their needs and wants, what media channels they frequent and how they prefer to interact with brands.

Demonstrating your value

Once you understand your audiences, identify how your products and services address their needs. Your ad messaging should center on that value proposition in a way that resonates with specific consumers.

Building campaigns with a purpose

Ask yourself “what specific results do I want native advertising campaigns to drive for my brand?” Make sure your team understands what you’re trying to accomplish and the metrics you plan to measure success against.

What does the future have in store for native advertising?

2021 is already a huge year for native advertising. Despite slower growth in 2020 due to the pandemic, native ad spending grew by over two billion dollars in 2020 and has increased by over 22 billion since 2018.

U.S. native digital display ad spending

Mobile channels, programmatic platforms and social networks are the main drivers behind this increase. And, since there’s a lot of overlap between the channels, there are plenty of opportunities to run campaigns that incorporate all three.

Native ad formats like video and sponsored articles are becoming more popular as well, which has taken a chunk out of social media’s share of the ad spend. But social ads will still account for around three-quarters of native ad spend in the foreseeable future.

Percentage of native ad spending

There’s also a lot of growth happening in native advertising. Ad tech companies are building out the infrastructure necessary to handle large-scale programmatic native advertising campaigns that have:

The ability to test multiple creative messages
More sophisticated audience targeting
Better tracking and measuring capabilities

For brands, this means the already warm waters of native advertising should heat up even more with increased engagement and higher conversions. If your brand is interested in diving in, contact Mindstream Media Group to learn how our native advertising solutions can help Fast-Forward Your Business.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for freshness and accuracy.

How Agencies Can Grow Through Strategic Partnerships

Posted on February 25, 2021July 1, 2021 by Mindstream Media Group

Agency Solutions

12 Ways We Can Help You Fast-Forward Wins

Scale

Pricing Insight
Research
New Biz Clout
Increase Agency Value

Perspective

Revenue Sharing Options
No Minimums
No Incremental Labor
Protect Accounts

Capabilities

Performance Expertise
Analytics Suite
Extend Service Offering
You Win – Then, We Win

We Are Built To Be An Extension Of Your Team

	We are bold strategic advisors Obvious answers usually aren’t going to Fast-Forward things, so we go deep to find the correlations and opportunities that can help us drive better results.
	We are fueled by data, driven by insight Our business intelligence group mines your data and ours, not simply to plan, but to adjust in real time as market conditions evolve.
	We are capable of planning, buying and optimizing from national to hyper-local We make it simple for brands to drive results regardless of the selling environment and company marketing structure.
	We work in agile communities of specialists We don’t work in a traditional media hierarchy. We’re organized in communities of experts that create a virtuous cycle of improvement and position us to swarm to client opportunities.

Draw on Our Research Tools

We invest over $1 million annually in the media industry’s best research tools, which help to define and drive our media recommendations.

Leverage our Partnerships

Our media expertise has enabled our agency to partner with the best names in the business, like Google, Facebook, Yext, Dataxu, Microsoft, Snapchat and more.

How We Can Partner

3 Pillars


Traditional	Digital	Analytics

2 Engagement Options


	Full-service execution	Consulting

100% Transparent on Spend/Fees

Agency service models

Learn More

The agency landscape has changed dramatically as a result of numerous challenges across the marketplace. Learn more about how we’re filling the gap for agency partners that have found themselves with limited media and research capabilities. In this episode of Fast-Forward the Conversation, VP of Business Development Fabio Ramos and Planning Strategist Misty Castellanos join President Zac Keeney to discuss the value Mindstream can provide not only to agencies but to their clients as well.

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[Case Study]: Redefining CPG Media Mix for Immediate Growth

Posted on August 28, 2020September 10, 2020 by Mindstream Media Group

Mindstream Media Group has successfully partnered with CPG brands to develop local market media plans designed to measure the impact of strategic paid media elements on overall brand awareness and sales lift. This experience and unique perspective were leveraged to create a media mix strategy for a national kitchen and laundry appliance cleaning product brand.

Overview

The client’s previous approach to media was broad in structure and did not lend itself to observable test and learn scenarios, which is key to identifying and proving media mix effectiveness. We revised the setup of targeted media and implemented a carefully outlined, multi-market exposed versus control media channel delivery strategy. The result showed a large lift in year-over-year sales and armed us with insights for driving even greater returns with future campaigns.

Challenge

Increase brand awareness of and sales for a CPG brand amidst a stacked roster of brands in the cleaning product category.

Objectives

Modify the existing mass reaching, national approach of media delivery into a pinpointed selection of markets in order to measure and verify:

sales of core products
media channel value and opportunity for progressed application

Approach

Mindstream Media Group’s initial collaboration with our client involved mapping out historical sales data to visualize product sales by DMA. Once complete, we added retailer store count and population density per DMA to gain a better understanding of the opportunity landscape of each market. Test and control markets were then defined based on this data.

The test included 12 DMAs that were segmented into three groups (Control, Market A, Market B). Segments were grouped together based on Q4 2018 sales volume and DMA population density relative to the number of retailers within those DMAs. Within each group, there were also high, mid and low investment DMAs.

Market A and B segments were exposed to a consistent base media channel mix focused on new customer prospecting and re-engaging users at various touchpoints along the path to purchase. DMAs in Market B were assigned a variable media outlet/channel partner and had specialized delivery against them with an opportunity to engage users via this additional touchpoint. The contribution and return of this channel partner were assessed by online ROI reports and the effect on retailer sales within supported markets.

Control markets were supported only by national paid search efforts. All other media delivery was withheld to establish baseline market references for general year-over-year sales trends and the impact of media support versus none.

The goal of the test was to assess how media impacts sales growth of brand products and whether a certain media mix had a greater impact over others. Sales of three of the brand’s appliance cleaning products (for washing machines, dishwashers and disposals) were tracked relative to the following media channels:

Display
YouTube
Paid Social
Paid Search
Dynamic Digital Retail Partnerships

Hear more about how we proved the true efficacy of media and leveraged shopper marketing to boost sales.

Results

Both test groups showed a significant lift in both quarterly and year-over-year sales (2019 Q3 vs Q4 and 2018 Q4 vs 2019 Q4). Our first quarter of media partnership revealed an 89 percent lift in sales in A Markets and a 200 percent lift in sales in B Markets quarter-over-quarter.

A Markets – Q3 2019, 9% lift YoY / Q4 2019, 17% lift YoY / 2019 QoQ, 89% lift

B Markets – Q3 2019, 6% lift YoY / Q4 2019, 18% lift YoY / 2019 QoQ, 200% lift

A media-driven lift was visible in all three of the brand’s core appliance cleaners supported in the test:

Product 1 = Washing machine cleaner (65 percent budget allocated to support)
Product 2 = Dishwasher cleaner (20 percent budget allocated to support)
Product 3 = Disposal cleaner (15 percent budget allocated to support)

*LY = Last year *TY = This year

Marketing Insights to Navigate the Coronavirus Pandemic – Weekly Recap of News You Can Use

Posted on May 1, 2020May 1, 2020 by Mindstream Media Group

Week of April 27, 2020

Greetings from the home office.

In this week’s installment, we’re taking a closer look at how the coronavirus pandemic has affected ad spend across media channels.

It’s no secret that consumers’ online behaviors have changed drastically over the last two months in our self-isolated, home office world. We’re testing the boundaries of our internet service through streaming more online video, teleconferencing and homeschooling. We’re likely also engaging more with social media to distract and entertain ourselves from the stress and anxiety of quarantine life. And, our TV habits have probably changed, too, as we look to local and national news to get the latest updates on our ever-changing ‘new normal.’

Marketers’ routines and carefully crafted plans have also been upended. This unprecedented, challenging time has created uncertainty in current and future strategy, including channels, messaging and how to come out of this stronger.

Let’s dig into the numbers.

A survey by Advertiser Perceptions found that nearly half of the respondents had held back a campaign from launching until later in the year while 34 percent canceled a campaign completely prior to launch.

All media has seen a decrease in budget with the hardest hit being display, paid social, digital video and broadcast TV.

U.S. agency and marketing professionals anticipate Q2 2020 to take the biggest brunt of the impact of cuts in ad spending.

Mobile – According to forecasts by eMarketer, mobile was headed for a banner year in 2020. Ad spend was expected to increase over 20 percent, ringing in at $105.34 billion. But now, any growth in mobile ad spend this year will be minimal at best. However, it will likely not be as hard hit as other media. Early indications are that some spending will bounce back in Q3 and Q4, although it’s too early to determine the extent of the rebound. eMarketer plans to rebuild their forecasting models and release an updated full-year digital ad spend outlook in June. Learn more.

Paid Search – As a performance-based channel with measurable ROI, search budgets often aren’t slashed as deeply as other digital media when marketers are forced to justify allocations. Search is a lower-funnel ad channel typically geared towards driving conversions, online and offline. However, many of those conversions are currently being hampered due to lockdowns and supply chain issues. Although it will vary greatly by industry, overall search ad spending is expected to decline between 8.7 percent and 14.8 percent in the first half of 2020. Learn more.

Digital Video – Video is well-positioned for branding campaigns, which makes it an attractive option as brands refocus their efforts to more upper-funnel tactics. It’s a good substitute for channels like OOH that are facing a decline in consumption. Falling prices due to decreased demand make it an even more attractive option. As a result, eMarketer estimates digital video could have the potential to increase as much as 7.8 percent during the first half of the year. However, that would still be about $3 billion to $5 billion less than originally anticipated. Learn more.

Social Media – Social media advertising spend took a nosedive in March, but plenty of advertisers did not pause or cut spending. In fact, lower ad prices on Facebook actually attracted some advertisers. The pandemic has created a unique opportunity for social media advertising. Not only has demand for ad space decreased due to brands pulling their ads, but the supply of available impressions has soared thanks to increased usage of the platforms by consumers stuck at home. Ad spending is expected to remain depressed in Q2 but rebound by the end of the year, if most of the country has been reopened. Learn more.

Traditional Media Overview – In this video clip, Monica Peart, eMarketer Vice President of Forecasting gives a brief overview of how COVID-19 has impacted U.S. traditional advertising as a whole. (Traditional advertising is defined as live and time-shifted TV, over the air radio, print newspapers and magazines and OOH.) Learn more.

TV – Television, including broadcast (network, syndication and spot) and cable, has seen long-term declines in ad spending. This year was set to be an exception thanks to the Olympics and a presidential election. But the coronavirus pandemic changed all that. The cancellation of sporting events alone caused the loss of billions in ad revenue. Advertisers are expected to take a wait-and-see approach with reviving their expenditures. Although consumers are spending more time at home and have a greater interest in watching TV, many are keeping a wary eye on finances due to job loss or underemployment. This could actually lead to further cord-cutting and reliance on connected rather than linear TV. Learn more.

OOH – Out-of-home is expected to see deeper budget cuts than any other media. Initially estimated to see a 3.3 percent increase in ad spending for the year, OOH is now anticipated to see a decline of 15.5 percent to 21.9 percent in the first half of the year. Stay at home orders and canceled sporting events means fewer eyeballs on once coveted real estate on highway billboards, transit stations, airports, stadiums, restaurant bathrooms, etc. However, once commuting and public activities resume, OOH advertising will regain its popularity and relevance. Learn more.

If you’d like more insights on how media spend and strategies are continually changing, let’s start a conversation.

We hope you’ve found our compilation insightful. Stay safe and if you haven’t already, subscribe to our blog to get next week’s roundup delivered straight to your inbox.

The Agency Landscape is Changing Before Our Eyes. Daily.

Posted on April 29, 2020January 13, 2021 by Mindstream Media Group

Creative Agencies Win by Partnering with Media Firms

We’ve seen it as immediately as the last two weeks. The “once was” is colliding with the “now is” strategy and structure of operating a successful agency. Full-service and creative shops are morphing before our eyes as everyone looks to answer for the future state of their business.

What exactly does the future state look like?

For our team at Mindstream Media Group, we look to the horizon, while remaining anchored in our PURPOSE:

We don’t discriminate in WHO we view as our “clients” in this purpose and in our delivery of services—from national brands and franchise businesses to general and creative agencies.

We work with 20+ agency partners from Southern California to Maryland, and some relationships have existed for as long as 10 years. Other relationships are just starting to blossom as we “win together” with creative agency partners. Agency partnerships are especially interesting now, as agency models are being reinvented.

Why is that?

It’s really a terrific question. The “jack of all trades” creative shop or full-service partner likely had to evaluate resources in the last 30 days. Everyone in our space has. No one is immune to the ripple effect of the virus and the impact on our service teams. Offerings are being pared down and a refined focus on the work is coming back into a clearer perspective. What’s needed more now than ever is a high-quality account and/or strategic lead. Then, lean on the talents and perspective of a trusted partner to bring it to life.

This BEFORE & AFTER image represents the typical, pre-pandemic agency account structure and what challenges will exist going forward.

Agency structures are reinventing at a rapid pace due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But clients aren’t going away. Agency owners, COOs and account teams are looking for trusted partners to help them bring their ideas to life. As the economy rebounds, Mindstream Media Group can insert quickly into the statement of bringing ideas to life. No one will have time to waste when ramping back up.

Now, let’s say you’ve never considered this approach pre-pandemic… What specifically does Mindstream Media Group bring to the table to help retain your business and GAIN new opportunity (clients) in this new economy?

We exist to Fast-Forward Your Business through perspective, capabilities, a CRUSH IT culture and the pricing insight $500 million in scale brings. We’ve distilled our unique perspective, capabilities and scale into 12 ways we can help agency partners moving forward.

In addition to uniquely beneficial partnership models and full-solution media capabilities, one example of value we deliver is seen in No. 2 under SCALE (Research). Re-evaluation of an agency P&L may have left many of these crucial research tools by the wayside. We get it. Let us, or another partner, lift the burden of cost and ensure you’re continuing the stewardship of your client dollars. Our team invests nearly $1,000,000 annually with research and strategic planning tools. The key word is “invests” in the tools. We rely on this wealth of research data to help define and drive our media recommendations.

We have agency partner relationships spanning over a decade. Why? Because together: they win first; then we win by truly being an extension of their team and delivering a full range of media solutions.

Challenge presents opportunity, and as a collective, our fellow agencies are certainly living this challenge. If any of this speaks to where you are today, embrace the opportunity to scale your business, and let’s start a conversation. Reach out to me directly or submit the form below and we’ll get back to you.

Zac Keeney, President of Mindstream Media Group, leads the agency’s sales and marketing teams. His 15-year career in media encompasses working with many Fortune 500 brands to successfully strategize and implement campaigns of all shapes and sizes. Zac’s competitive spirit fuels the drive to keep a constant focus on moving client business forward. The unique challenges that every client presents allows Zac and his team to thrive by consistently providing unique, agile solutions in an ever-changing marketing landscape.

The Connected TV Battle – A Song of Traditional and Digital Media

Posted on May 30, 2019January 28, 2020 by Mindstream Media Group

Recently, we kicked off our connected TV series with a look at the convergence of digital and linear models. In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into the digital landscape by looking at the growth of connected TV audiences and the major OTT services vying for viewers’ attention.

It’s been nearly a fortnight since Game of Thrones reached its highly-anticipated conclusion. Over the last week and a half, millions of viewers watched (and re-watched) the series finale to find out which of Westeros’ finest would end up on top, only to see the hotly-contested, blade-forged metal death chair (SPOILER ALERT!!!) reduced to a puddle of melted steel and broken dreams. In the end, 13.6 million viewers tuned in live to catch the finale, with another 6 million or so streaming the episode or watching it on-demand.

As the final clash for the Iron Throne unfolded, a related battle raged across the digital media realm. Over-the-top (OTT) video providers like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video continue to fight for the loyalty of viewers who are increasingly ditching traditional TV providers in favor of internet-connected viewing options.

For marketers, these connected TV audiences represent an increasingly significant opportunity to blend digital’s ad targeting capabilities with traditional TV’s massive reach. To give you a better understanding of the opportunity, here’s a look at the growth of connected TV audiences, the OTT services battling for viewers’ attention (and dollars) and the devices that deliver the content.

Connected TV audiences

Let’s start by clearing up the confusion between connected TV and OTT. Connected TV refers to the devices audiences use to stream video (e.g., a smart TV). OTT services are the apps and providers that deliver the content (e.g., Netflix). To frame up this article, we’ll use connected TV audiences as a catch-all for viewers watching OTT content on internet-connected devices.

Connected TV audiences are comprised of two main groups:

No. 1: Traditional subscribers

Audiences who stream OTT video and also subscribe to traditional TV distributors like:

Cable and satellite providers
Wireless carriers and fiber operators
Major TV broadcast and cable networks
Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers

No. 2: Cordless viewers

Audiences who don’t have any traditional pay-TV service, comprised of two main groups:

Cord-cutters: have had a traditional TV subscription in the past five years
Cord-nevers: have not had a traditional TV subscription in the past five years

OTT streaming households by audience type

While traditional TV (i.e., pay TV) viewers still outnumber connected TV viewers roughly 2-to-1, the tides are starting to turn. This trend is significant for brand marketers who will need to reallocate budgets to account for the shift in consumer behavior.

Major OTT players

The growth of connected TV audiences has sparked an arms race among OTT video providers vying for their attention. It seems like a different media company launches a new OTT service every day as existing players jockey for the rights to popular video content and work to develop more original programming. Going back to the GoT analogy, there are three main houses in the race today: Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Think of them like connected TV’s versions of the Starks, Lannisters and Targaryens.

But, like GoT, the OTT realm has a lot more houses, and these services use a variety of content and delivery models. There are way too many models to cover here, but let’s look at a few of the big ones:

Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) model: OTT services that give users access to a wide range of original and aggregated content for a monthly rate (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Amazon).
Network-based model: SVOD services built around TV and cable networks (e.g., HBO GO/NOW, Showtime Anytime, CBS All Access).
Linear OTT model: OTT services that deliver content from multiple TV, cable or satellite channels in real time (e.g., DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV).

These services are a mix of subscription- and ad-based models, making some of the services less attractive to marketers. Here’s a look at the major ad-based services across the various models.

OTT providers with advertising

(Source: eMarketer)

Across content and subscription models, there’s plenty of momentum behind OTT right now. Despite nearing what has to be an audience saturation point, market leader Netflix continues to grow. Other major platforms like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video are still growing as well. On top of that, big names like Disney and Apple have plans to launch their own services in the coming months. For marketers, this means OTT platforms will likely become an even more important channel for reaching consumers in the near future.

Connected TV devices

Perhaps the biggest difference between OTT apps and traditional TV providers is how they deliver content to audiences. With traditional TV, audiences are pretty much tethered to their TV sets and – with the exception of on-demand content – are forced to watch programs live. With OTT services, audiences have a lot more control of where and when they consume content.

Connected TV devices come in all shapes and sizes including smart TVs, gaming consoles, streaming boxes/sticks, etc. (Additionally, viewers can use computers, tablets and phones to stream OTT content.)

OTT streaming households by connected TV device

As of last year, streaming boxes and sticks were the most popular connected TV device. The two major players in the category are Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, both of which experienced solid growth in 2018.

Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick penetration of U.S. Wi-Fi households

To learn more about connected TV advertising, check out the third installment of this series:

What You Need to Know About Connected TV Advertising

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Category: Video advertising

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