Ad scrollers, a format that appears as a window revealing creative as the user scrolls, can have a positive effect across brand metrics, such as purchase intent and awareness. According to research, 51% of mobile device users who saw ad scrollers viewed a brand more favorably afterward, which is higher than the 46% of respondents who also had the same positive effect after exposure to expandable ads.
The March 2016 study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Celtra, a creative, analytics and optimization platform for display advertising, and PadSquad, a mobile advertising services provider, conducted by Millward Brown Digital, polled 507 US mobile device users who were randomly shown one of two ads on their mobile device prior to taking the survey—either a 320x50 expandable banner or an ad scroller.
Generally, mobile device users responded well to ad scrollers. For example, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents who saw this format had higher purchase intent after viewing them. To compare, 55% of respondents who saw expandable banners had higher purchase intent after viewing that format.
The biggest contrast was in awareness. Ad scrollers had a positive effect on aided category awareness for 56% of mobile device users who saw them. However, less than a third (30%) of respondents who saw expandable banner ads had better awareness after viewing them.
According to the study, respondents viewed ad scrollers as less invasive than the control ad placement.
Overall, mobile ad spending continues to increase at the expense of desktop, taking more and more share of marketers’ digital ad dollars, according to eMarketer. In 2016, mobile ad spending in the US will increase 41.0%, reaching $40.50 billion and accounting for 60.4% of all digital ad spending. By 2019, mobile ad spending will rise to $65.87 billion, or 72.2% of total digital ad spend.
This year will be the tipping point where mobile ad spending surpasses desktop. And while desktop advertising will remain a significant portion of marketers’ budgets—approximately $25 billion in each year throughout eMarketer’s forecast period—mobile will continue growing in the double digits to gain more and more market share while desktop spending remains flat.