Incentives Give a Boost to Consumer Products Ads

eMarketer reporting: 
Exchanging virtual currency or other value for ad views helps brands

Marketers often think of advertising as a tradeoff for consumers: People watch ads in exchange for free or subsidized content. Consumers may understand this, but still sometimes feel annoyed or bored by ads they encounter each time they turn on the TV or launch their web browser.
But some digital ads are now explicitly incentivized. For example, a brand may sponsor a social game, and make a reward of virtual currency contingent on watching a display ad. These incentivized ads, research from digital advertising technology company SocialVibe and KN Dimestore found, can be very effective.
A summer 2011 study exposed web users to incentivized ads, and found that nearly half interacted with the ads because of the incentive—but ended up paying attention to the brand. Nearly one in three said they paid equal attention to both, and 12% interacted because of the brand. Fewer than one in 10 study participants said they interacted with the ad only because of the incentive.

 

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