Rich media, engagement and content marketing formats now account for one third (33 per cent) of the US campaigns booked through Vibrant Media, according to the original native ad company’s 2015 figures. Since 2012, Vibrant’s innovation and technology teams have been launching new formats such as Mosaic, Lightbox, Storyboard and the Amplify range of content marketing units. These formats distribute and drive engagement for brands’ paid, owned and earned content through ad triggers placed natively within editorial content and images.
Traffic driving remains Vibrant Media’s primary business in the US, accounting for 55.8 per cent of revenue. However, that marketing strategy is increasingly complemented by branding-focused campaigns based on viewability, engagement and new attention metrics. Engagement and content marketing campaigns have been accounting for an additional 7 per cent share of Vibrant Media’s revenue on average each year – from a one per cent share in 2011 to a 33 per cent share of revenue in 2015 As more advertisers buy on Vibrant’s attention and GroupM-compliant viewability bases, more growth is predicted in this area.
More Revenue From Diverse Industries
The top five verticals purchasing Vibrant’s ads for the last five years have consistently been automotive, business and finance, computing, consumer electronics and consumer packaged goods / FMCG. However, since the end of 2013, when Founder and Executive Chairman Craig Gooding returned to the helm at Vibrant Media, more entertainment, travel, and retail clients have been running native ad campaigns with the company. These industries now account for 9.2 per cent of Vibrant Media’s 2015 annual revenue. Marketers’ newly found focus on native advertising has attracted more new clients to try Vibrant Media’s ad units for the first time. More than one in three new clients in 2015 (35 per cent) rebooked a campaign with Vibrant Media within the same year.
Vibrant’s high-impact, rich-media formats have increased in ad sales in the business and finance vertical by 20 per cent since they were first launched in 2012. These clients often have complex messages to convey and find branded content an effective method to educate and captivate their target audiences. Hence they have been particularly attracted by Vibrant Media’s creative and innovatively placed content marketing ad formats which distribute their branded content from within the editorial that their customers trust.
Vibrant has also doubled its support for the consumer electronics vertical since 2013; a sector which is expected to grow further, particularly with the increasing success of Vibrant’s campaigns on handheld devices.
Mobile Fastest Growth
The fastest area of change for Vibrant Media has been its mobile offering. 36 per cent of Vibrant Media’s revenue now comes from users choosing to interact with Vibrant’s ads on handheld devices. Annual revenue from mobile phones more than doubled between 2014 and 2015 and revenue from tablet users increased sevenfold. This growth will continue through a new range of mobile products in the second quarter of 2016.
Founder and Executive Chairman of Vibrant Media, Craig Gooding, said, “Many marketers considered Vibrant Media’s native approach to advertising and content distribution too radical when we launched in 2000. The last few years has seen native advertising and branded content campaigns become the aspirations of most marketing departments. This drive has seen more brands recognize Vibrant for its unsurpassed experience of delivering consumer-centric native ad strategies. On further investigation, they have been surprised and intrigued by the range of creative and impactful user-controlled ad formats Vibrant offers – and we’re launching more very soon. Marketers’ change in strategy has had an incredibly positive impact on Vibrant’s business. We now deliver a multitude of marketing strategies around the world for a great diversity of brands using our numerous ad formats across all devices.”
About Vibrant Media
Formed in 2000, Vibrant Media is the original native advertising platform. Vibrant connects consumers in real time with engaging content and brand experiences cross-platform. Delivered directly off of words, images & video within a premium native environment, Vibrant’s solutions are designed to be viewable, relevant and engaging. With over 6,600 premium publishers, reaching more than 300 million unique users per month, Vibrant delivers native advertising at scale. Vibrant works with top brand advertisers such as Microsoft, Unilever, Chrysler and AT&T. The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, London, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf. For more information about Vibrant, please visit www.vibrantmedia.com or www.facebook.com/vibrantmedia orwww.twitter.com/vibrantmedia. Vibrant’s blog with insights on the digital marketing industry can be found at https://www.vibrantmedia.com/news/vibrant-blog/.
