New Tablet Rich Media Features

In the past year, we have seen a few major trends that have impacted the tablet advertising opportunity for brands.

To start—there has been a noticeable increase in overall tablet impressions on our platform. In 2011, 15 percent of our impressions were from “non-phone connected devices” (i.e. tablets, e-readers, etc.), and in 2012, that increased to 20 percent of our total impressions.

Going hand-in-hand with this, we’ve seen the tablet landscape become much more diverse, both in terms of device sizes and operating systems. Back in February 2011, 80 percent of our non-phone connected devices were running iOS. In 2012—the tablet breakdown was 58 percent iOS and 41 percent Android, and that included everything from the 7 inch Kindle Fire to the almost 10 inch iPad with Retina display.

Finally—we saw consumers find new ways to use their tablets. Whether this was online shopping, playing games or accompanying TV watching by using their tablets to stay connected socially, consumers have continually found new ways to engage.

What this means for advertisers is that there are more opportunities than ever to reach consumers on tablets, and because the landscape has become so diverse, consumers can take creative approaches with their campaigns that would not have been possible a few years ago.

With this in mind—we’re very pleased to announce a collection of new rich media features that were specifically designed for tablets. Here are details on the new units:

• The Look Book . The Look Book reinvents the traditional look book of glossy fashion and lifestyle magazines and allows brands to highlight a collection of images. The creative will contain a “cover image” (which can be an image or video), and then display a swipeable product grid that will highlight different features or designs. Within each image, advertisers can also implement store locators or social features.
• Transparent Overlay.  The Transparent Overlay is an animated, full page execution that integrates the creative onto the page, so the content behind is still visible. This is a powerful tool that allows brands to align their creative with content, while presenting an eye-catching image that will immediately catch the attention of the consumer.
• Auto Showcase. Designed for auto brands, the Auto Showcase is a rich media feature that allows brands to highlight 8 different features of a car, and when clicked, images will move to center of the screen to provide the consumer with more info.
• Treasure Map. The Treasure Map allows advertisers to create an ad that is larger than the dimensions of the device. Consumers can explore the ad by shifting the content in different directions to discover videos or images that may be initially hidden off-screen.
• Video Catalog. The Video Catalog allows brands to create a catalog of different images that each feature a different embedded video. This will allow advertisers to create an educational destination with a deep explanation of their products’ features and benefits.

While some of these rich media features were designed for specific verticals, in general, we aim to make all of our ad units flexible enough that a wide variety of different advertisers can create unique approaches, custom designed for their brand.

To learn more about our tablet advertising solutions, shoot us a note at sales@millennialmedia.com.