Tablet Ads Perform Better with Interactivity, Says IAB UK

A recent study released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau UK showed that interactive ads on tablets generate much better response rates than static tablet ads. Over half of the respondents said they had a positive overall opinion of interactive ads (54 percent). Static ads got only half that amount of positive feedback with 27 percent. In addition, 45 percent of survey participants said they expect their favorite brands to advertise on tablets.

When the respondents were asked why they liked an ad, 28 percent of people said it was because it was interactive and contained multiple features.

These interactive ads also cause respondents to stay on the page for 31 percent more time. The average time spent with pages featuring interactive tablet ads was 24.6 seconds compared to 18.8 seconds for static ads and 17.5 seconds with dynamic ads.

One respondent from the survey commented about interactive ads saying, “Tablet users are often quite creative people and would interact and have fun with the ads more.”

Although interactive ads can be helpful, they are not the only answer. The report also showed that 95 percent of respondents said it was “very important” that interactive tablet ads be unobtrusive and not interfere with what they are doing. Taking advantage of the touch screen capabilities of tablets is also something that 83 percent of respondents said was important to them. A close 82 percent of respondents stated that it is important for ads to be adapted to the content around them.

The report concludes, “Consumers already expect to see tablet ads and like ad funded models.”

As tablets become more popular, the report suggests the push for advertising on these devices will continue. Respondents also seem to feel this way: 47 percent agreed that advertising on tablet computers is the “future of advertising.”

The IAB UK Tablet Ad survey, conducted by Ipsos, was taken by 1,000 respondents and was intended to be completed on a tablet. The study then had users go through a mock newspaper page built using a Celtra rich media mobile platform embedded with nine ad formats. Various forms of static, dynamic, and interactive ads were viewed by the respondents and once finished, they were asked to answer a set of questions related to the ad formats.