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Unruly And VeNA Launch Manifesto To Help Advertisers Beat The Ad Blockers

  • Video ad tech company and ad platform advise New Zealand advertisers on how to deal with ad blocking and future-proof their video strategies
  • Survey finds 93% of New Zealanders would consider using ad blocking software; 66% are put off a brand when forced to watch pre-roll
  • Unruly to launch manifesto at Future Video Lab sessions in Auckland

WELLINGTON – May 2, 2017 – Video ad tech company Unruly and ad platform VeNA today unveil a manifesto for New Zealand brands and agencies looking to deploy best practice video strategies.

The New Zealand Future Video Manifesto advises advertisers on how to future-proof their video strategy and deal with the rise in ad-blocking.

Almost a quarter of New Zealanders (24%) already use ad blockers (source: Page Fair 2017) – a higher proportion than in the US (18%), the UK (16%) and Australia (20%) – while an Unruly survey conducted in January 2017 found that 93% of internet users across New Zealand would consider using ad blocking software because they feel there are too many ads and they find them “creepy”.

Two-thirds of New Zealand viewers (66%) are annoyed or put off a brand when they are forced to watch a pre-roll – more than the global average of 62% and New Zealanders are most likely to want control over their online video ad experience than the rest of the world. When asked the question, “I like to be in control of video adverts (e.g. to control when they start to play, to be able to close, replay, share and interact)”, 75% of New Zealanders agreed, much higher than the global average of 62%, and higher than the UK (74%) and Australia (68%);

The manifesto sets out 7 pillars to help brands put viewers in control of their viewing experiences.

Phil Townend, Chief Commercial Officer, Unruly APAC, said: “Our survey highlights some of the huge challenges facing the ad industry right now. The industry has largely adopted an interruptive video model, which is a hangover from TV, and consumers are being bombarded with hard sell sales messages which deliver little emotional value. There’s a real risk that consumers will abandon advertising if brands don’t listen to the signals and adopt more engaging, non-invasive ad strategies for the long term.”

Stuart Kruger, Group Sales Director, ANZ, added “We launched the New Zealand Future Video Manifesto to help brands in the country rebuild trust, re-connect with consumers and re-set the ad economy so we can collectively survive the existential threats that face the ad industry in the 21st Century and realise the full potential of video as a medium.

“Consumers are fed up with ad clutter – too many anti-social, interruptive ads. The solution is polite advertising: polite-page loading, respectful ad formats that give a better user experience, and better ads in the first place – content that’s worth watching.”

Unruly distributes ads across premium publishers using non-intrusive players which comply with the Coalition for Better Ads guidelines, including Unruly-In-Article – a viewable outstream format which only begins to play when the video is in-view.

Toni Knowles, General Manager NZ, VeNA said: “Unruly and VeNA are excited to be bringing emotional intelligence to New Zealand’s digital advertising landscape with the Future Video Survey and Manifesto. The survey findings showed us that consumers are tired of anti-social formats, poor content, and irrelevant ads – and that advertisers and publishers will need to adopt new strategies in order to beat the blockers.

“The Future Video Manifesto provides clear guidelines, informed by real responses, on how to create advertising experiences that engage, rather than enrage audiences. At the end of the day, the best way to survive the adblocking phenomenon is to create content that consumers want to watch and share, and to shift thinking towards the IAB’s L.E.A.N. principles.”

Other key findings from the survey – which asked 500 consumers from New Zealand what they want from video advertising online – include:

  • Over half of millennials in New Zealand (59%) are likely to use ad blockers in the future. The main reasons for this are:
    • There are too many ads (68%), they are sick of being shown the same ad over and over again (47%) and dislike being followed around the web by ads (33%);
    • New Zealanders are more likely to have already installed ad blocking software on their phones than the global average;
  • New Zealanders are also more likely to mute a video ad than the average global consumer (50% v 59%).

Unruly will unveil the full survey findings, along with a guide on how brands can future-proof their video strategies, at an event in Auckland today and tomorrow.

To download the Future Video Manifesto, click here.

 

About Unruly

Unruly gets videos seen, shared and loved across the open web for brands that want to move people, not just reach people.By bringing emotional intelligence to digital advertising, we help 91% of Ad Age 100 brands inform and inspire 1.44bn people around the world, using polite outstream formats on sites that people love. UnrulyX, the viewable video SSP, creates better ad experiences for consumers, improved brand outcomes for advertisers and increased revenues for top-flight publishers.

Emotion matters in marketing. Emotion creates values and sets preferences. Inspires action. Drives sales. Unruly has a decade’s data of consumer responses to video and uses that to hone content, model audiences and deploy ad dollars in ways that heighten emotional response and maximise brand impact. Unruly was founded in 2006 and acquired by News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) in 2015. With 300 Unrulies across 20 locations worldwide, our super power is emotional intelligence and our secret weapon is passionate people on a mission to #DeliverWow.

 

About VeNA

Video Entertainment Network Asia (VeNA) is one of the largest premium advertising and technology platforms operating across the Asia Pacific region, delivering advertisers access to millions of engaged consumers across all screens. VeNA is an independently owned and operated media company with offices in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. For agency partners, VeNA provides a wide range of solutions for distribution of video advertising at scale. For site/app and technology partners, VeNA offers a range of video asset management and platform services that add value and align complementary business objectives, to develop new revenue and strategic opportunities.