Rich Media Ads for the Mobile Web Deliver more impactful creative units to the mobile web with HTML5
Google predicts that by 2015, mobile devices will be the number one screen through which users engage with advertisers’ digital brands. Since many of these mobile devices may never support Flash-based rich media advertising, DoubleClick Rich Media is helping advertisers deliver impactful creative units in this fragmented environment using HTML5. Now advertisers can deliver interactive, video-rich ads to any mobile web browser that supports HTML5 and JavaScript.
What’s Possible with HTML5? HTML5 is a web standard that uses a combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Rich media ads created with HTML5 can achieve many of the same interactive, video-rich features possible with Flash-based rich media. HTML5 ads can be designed as in-page, floating, expanding or peel-down units. They can include video and audio. They can support 2D and 3D visualizations. Animation and layout can be controlled through several HTML5 technologies including CSS, Canvas or SVG. Why Use HTML5 for Rich Media Advertising?
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HTML5 makes it possible to improve ad engagement levels among the growing number of people who browse the web from devices that don’t have Flash. This includes Apple iOS devices (e.g. iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), which don’t allow Flash, and Android 2.2 devices (e.g. Droid, myTouch, etc.), which require users to download Flash to the device. Together, iOS and Android devices make up 3.8% of all operating systems in the United States1. Not only is this a large footprint of devices, but web usage on these devices nears that of traditional PCs. With these trends in mind, advertisers need a way to serve up ads on the mobile web that are more engaging than backup GIFs.
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At this stage, the most efficient way to leverage HTML5 is to use it as the first fallback option to use when Flash-based rich media creatives can’t be rendered. This method makes it easy to address the likelihood that ads in your campaign will be delivered optimally using HTML5 to Android and iOS devices. With this method, no additional work is necessary from a media planning or buying perspective.
Plan and Execute an HTML5 Only Campaign Some advertisers may wish to skip producing Flash-based rich media creatives for their campaigns, and produce HTML5 creatives instead. In this case, the media team should plan to limit their media buy to browser or device-targeted media from publishers. Mobile only campaigns should target the operating systems of devices that support HTML5, such as iOS and Android operating systems. Desktop campaigns should target just those browsers that support HTML5, such as Firefox 3.5, Firefox 4.0+, Chrome 5.0+ and Safari 5.0+. Creative Best Practices • Hand Code: Although you can code HTML5 creatives with a tool such as Dreamweaver, we suggest hand coding, or reviewing your code by hand, for best results. • Consider Custom Metrics: To track HTML5 events separately, give unique names within the HTML5 creative for custom metrics such as counters, timers, exits and video metrics. • Avoid Mouseover Interactions: Do not use any mouseover interactions. Users on smartphones and tablets can’t mouseover your ad. • Keep in Mind the Form Factor: Consider how your HTML5 creative will look on small smartphone devices and larger tablet devices. Too many small details in your ad will not display well on smartphones. • Use an Accurate Call to Action: When writing a call-to-action in the ad unit, keep in mind that users do not click on tablets or smartphones, they tap on them. For example, the call to action in a movie ad should say “Tap here for showtimes” instead of “Click here for showtimes.” Get Started To get started, contact your DoubleClick representative or make an inquiry using the form at google.com/doubleclick/contact/ richmedia.html. Creative agencies implementing HTML5 units may contact our service team directly using the form at google.com/ doubleclick/creativesupport.
About DoubleClick Google’s DoubleClick™ products provide ad management and ad serving solutions to companies that buy, create or sell online advertising. The world’s top marketers, publishers, ad networks and agencies use DoubleClick products as the foundation for their online advertising businesses. With deep expertise in ad serving, media planning, search management, rich media, video and mobile, our DoubleClick products help customers execute their digital media strategy more effectively. © 2010 Google Inc. All rights reserved. Google and the Google and DoubleClick logos are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
