Goafest 2011: "Display ads are smart and sexy": Rajan Anandan

At the fourth session of the Knowledge Seminar on Day Two of the Goafest 2011, Rajan Anandan, managing director and vice-president, sales and operations, Google India, engaged the audience with a session on online display advertising.

At his first Goafest event ever, held at Zuri White Sands, Goa, on April 8, the managing director and vice-president, sales and operations, Google India, Rajan Anandan declared that display advertisements are "smart and sexy".

Facts and Figures

Anandan said, "When it comes to the internet, India has reached an inflection point." In 2010, there were 100 million internet users in India, out of which 40 per cent accessed the net from their homes, while 40 per cent did so from their workplace. The internet user is the most valuable target consumer for most brands, since a large percentage of the youth is plugged into this medium.

"Individuals from SEC AB, falling within the 15-34 years age bracket are using the internet a lot," said Anandan, before going on to inform that the online advertising industry -- erroneously viewed as a 'cottage industry' when it comes to ad spends -- was worth Rs 1,000 crore, in 2010. "And, a 50 per cent growth is expected this year," Anandan further added.

Explaining why display ads are smart and sexy, he said, "They're smart, thanks to the great computing horsepower and processing power computers offer these days." This, in Anandan's opinion, will do great things for online display advertisements.

And, why is online display advertising sexy?

"It's sexy because it offers so much opportunity for videos and rich media," Anandan stated. The advent of rich media, in terms of interactive online ads, is here. The masthead space, Anandan informed, is emerging as a very popular display ad format in India. In fact, Google's very own 'Watch This Space' campaign (rolled out a few days back) bears the objective of increasing awareness about display advertising.

Regarding the phenomenon of online video viewing, Anandan shared the example of how youtube.com, a platform that he referred to as "the world's biggest focus group", is growing rapidly. Apparently, the website adds around 20 million new users to its kitty each month.

"Take the example of the movie Dabangg," continued Anandan. "It was the first online sponsored Bollywood movie in India, and it garnered a million views in the first week itself.

The Mobile Screen and Display Ads

Besides being smart and sexy, three other trends in display advertising, Anandan informed, are noteworthy.

Firstly, the mobile medium is gaining popularity and the mobile screen is becoming an important medium via which ads can reach people.

Today, there are 40 million internet users accessing the internet through their mobile phones. Anandan shared the example of the Kerala Tourism brand that utilised this space well by launching a video-based advertisement across mobile screens. "This campaign had a click through rate of 10.5 per cent," he said.

Audience Buying

The second trend in display advertising is 'audience buying', a trend that allows advertisers to target their consumers in a finer manner.

An instance of the same is a phenomenon called 'interest category marketing' -- a technique through which brands can reach users based on their interests. So, the placing of advertisements is based on the kind of websites surfers visit. "This kind of targetting takes away some of the dispersion seen in traditional media advertising," Anandan said.

'Remarketing' is another instance of 'interest category marketing'. In this, the same ad keeps appearing on a number of sites visited by the same person.

Metrics Beyond Clicks

The third trend in display advertising is the ability to produce metrics beyond mere clicks. Basically, the number of clicks an ad receives is no longer the only way of measuring its success online; today, it is possible to determine other crucial facts such as how long a particular individual spent viewing a particular ad.

"It is even possible to measure which part of an ad was most engaging for viewers today," Anandan said.

Concluding his presentation, Anandan predicted that display advertising is going to become extremely popular in the years ahead. "The display investment with Google increased by 92 per cent in the past year," said Anandan, as he signed off.