Technologies in Digital Advertising: Why Custom Ad Tech Software Is a Good Bet

Tracing purchase behaviors is absolutely necessary to successfully implement a trendy omnichannel strategy. The 2019 BigCommerce report provides deep insight into consumer shopping behavior, prompting advertisers to choose the tactics and solutions they may need to target ads to the right people, at the right time, and at the right place.

Embracing ad tech software can significantly speed up the adoption of these new changes. Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce platform, carried out a series of tests that proved manual ad bidding was less profitable:

• Manual bidding campaigns brought in 100% ROI with 99.52% of budget spent.
• Algorithmic bidding generated 340% ROI with 99.51% of budget spent.
  retrieved from Forbes.com

What capacities do ad tech solutions need to expand audience reach? And why does it make sense to develop custom ad tech software? Here is some food for thought.

Ever-changing consumer behavior, and advertiser’s desire to cater to different audiences, requires consistent brand messaging across multiple platforms.

Disney is a good example of how omnichannel marketing works. They allow users to book trips, plan which attractions to see, and what food to taste from the comfort of their mobile devices.

The Oasis clothes retailer has also put omnichannel digital advertising to use. They have implemented a mobile application, website, and brick-and-mortar store to offer a seamless customer experience across all these channels. Oasis’s shop assistants also have iPads on hand to provide advice to any customer entering the store.

Digital advertising solutions must be powerful enough to advertise in a natural consumer setting and in a very appealing way. Here is what can help bring it to the table:

OTT ad tech solutions may soon gain the attention of consumers since cable TV is in its decline.

According to Bloomberg, “every minute, another six people cut the cord.” The reasons for abandoning cable TV are quite straightforward: it is expensive and slow, whereas streaming alternatives like Netflix or HBO Go allow users to view higher quality videos for moderate subscription fees. This is why traditional TV commercials may eventually become extinct.

What exactly is OTT advertising? Simply put, it’s when you use any device to stream digital advertising content to TVs or identical devices like tablets, HDMI sticks, game consoles, TV streaming boxes, smart Blu-ray players, etc. OTT ad tech software is supposed to reach a wider audience since the number of OTT-homes in the U.S. has increased by a factor of three, according to Adweek’s statement. Adopters of OTT ad tech solutions will be able to target ad campaigns with greater accuracy, knowing who is watching a movie, program, etc., and when. The biggest challenge, so far, is to develop a cross-platform OTT ad tech software that collects real-time analytics from multiple devices, since cookies and pixel tracking are no help here. The solution is to connect cross-device IDs with OTT videos, because IPs are dynamic and may not give the full picture.

In the adtech industry, AI and ML can automate many routine tasks. Facebook and Google ad platforms have already leveraged them to create responsive search ads. ML algorithms pick up the most relevant search queries to increase ad performance and optimize ads on-the-go, providing personalized consumer experiences.

Furthermore, Google AdWords has an automatic bidding system enabling advertisers to pay a modest price per conversion. Some AI-powered adtech solutions also predict the best time for ads to appear, allowing for immense budget savings.

Digital advertisers tend to heavily rely on AI adtech software:

Additionally, ML adtech software can help generate leads, send fraud alerts by recognizing malicious activity or fake URLs, assist in testing media buying campaigns, and discover target audience preferences. Thus, Macy.com makes effective use of local inventory ads by displaying in-store products to consumers in the nearby area

Ad blocking solutions continue to generate great interest. Deloitte says people aged 18 to 34 tend to block ads in four or more categories. GDPR regulations force digital advertisers and publishers to switch from third-party data providers to first-party interactions asking each individual to give his consent to the processing of personal data. What does this mean for the digital advertising industry? Dynamic creatives and contextual ads merging with natural customer settings will win the game. The graph below proves that paid ads with retargeting will withhold a larger share of the marketing budget.

Data management platforms (DMPs) are catching on as personalization steps in. These platforms can collect user data through free WiFi networks (similar to what Purple.ai does to build detailed customer profiles based on WiFi analytics), analytics tools, media players, transaction systems, etc. Next, DMPs analyze, structure, and break target audiences down into segments preserving proper security levels and giving digital advertisers a good chance to stay connected with prospects via text messages or contextual ads. DMPs also optimize ad campaigns, reduce costs, and customize the content displayed to customers.

Introduced on May 25, 2018, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) has already shaped the digital advertising ecosystem. Advertisers and publishers must gain customers’ consent to collect their personal data and come up with relevant and engaging content.

Now, the IAB (The Interactive Advertising Bureau) framework is being developed to ensure that digital advertising is both transparent and safe. So-called walled gardens like Facebook and Google are likely to benefit the most from GDPR policies. Hopefully, they will reach an agreement with publishers and advertisers on proper data usage they possess without dictating technical controls that are too strict. Appnexus.com aims to help reach the goal:

What ad tech solutions providers must consider is that software cannot violate these rules and send ads automatically without users’ direct consent. Contextual ad placement seems to be doing a good job, though. Companies such as Quora offer contextual targeting options in addition to other similar internet platforms.

However, behavioral data collection through email cookies or cross-device monitoring will not vanish any time soon since many countries outside Europe allow using these methods of data collection.

The increase of ad fraud is another threat for the global advertising industry. eMarketer has released a digital ad fraud report, saying that smartphone in-app videos are the most vulnerable with 22.1% of ad frauds detected. Adobe has conducted its own research, having inspected thousands of clients’ websites. The outcome? 28% of traffic had “non-human signals.”

To be on the safe side, advertisers and publishers need to take precautions by applying third-party ad verification tools, selecting credible advertising networks, counting more valuable metrics like conversions instead of clicks, and using an Ads.txt safety protocol to prevent spoofing

Custom ad tech software development may require twice the effort and time, but it quickly pays off. The biggest drawback of many off-the-shelf ad tech solutions is that the multiscreen ad world requires a well-planned user experience, which is often below any expectations. 73% of marketers and media agencies complain about the poor UX of digital advertising solutions. Top six pitfalls go as follows:

• Ad clutter
• Creative quality
• User experience
• Ad and content match
• Distraction from content consumption
• Page load time

          retrieved from searchenginewatch.com

Third-party solutions lack flexibility, which is why advertisers will have trouble integrating their in-house tools to have all the data collected under one roof.

Innovecs has a proven track record in implementing on-demand ad tech software that can help tackle these issues and improve ad spend based on audience segmentation and retargeting, increase reach through optimal in-app ad placement, and efficiently manage digital assets.
Our team capabilities embrace:

• Customer data analytics – profile, online consumption – (re)segmentation, (re)targeting
• Search intelligence for customer targeting
• Native and hybrid mobile app design and ad placement
• Digital asset management platform development, categorization by metadata
• Predictive analytics software development (based on machine learning), and more.

At Innovecs, we can assist you with ad tech software development from concept to production and ensure continued support for QA and maintenance to ensure a ready-made product. If this is what you need, contact our team by clicking this link or filling out the form below.