The 6-second Ads
You have just a few seconds to impress. How will you make your brand count?
The time has come for brands to rethink how they advertise via digital channels. Creating a website and posting on social channels are great ways to monetize your offering, but as over a third of people around the world own a smartphone and spend an average of five hours a day (per person!) on their mobile devices and over six hours per week in mobile games.
Tapping into this monetization opportunity would be a “game changer” — pun intended!
And yet, when it comes to advertising in mobile games, the struggle is real. The human attention span is already at an all-time low of just eight seconds. Coupled with the fact that gamers tend to tune out mobile ads while they impatiently wait for the coveted “Skip” button to appear and their game to return, and your fantastic access to an active and engaged audience is, well, less so.
So, what can you do to take advantage of this tremendous advertising and monetization opportunity without running the risk of decreasing gamers’ attention, or turning them off of the mobile gaming experience, altogether?
The six-second ad ideally responds to all the needs mentioned above. Short, to the point, maximally compelling, yet minimally invasive. Exactly what you need to succeed in the world of mobile game advertising.
Why six seconds?
It’s no secret that video has become a most popular and effective marketing tool, but in a world of limited attention, long-form (30 seconds) ads simply do not work. Brands must compete over those precious seconds of attention target audience members are willing to lend out, in a highly-saturated digital marketing realm. As such, the shorter the ad, the better — and if it can be shorter than the average eight-second attention span, the ad is far more likely actually to be viewed and internalized.
Launched in 2016 by YouTube and since adopted by digital advertisers everywhere, the six-second or bumper ad captures viewers’ attention without testing their patience, by stuffing a short but direct message in minimal time. More or less unskippable, the six-second ad has been found to capture 8–11 percent more viewer attention than other mobile ad forms.
Publishers are hailing the six-second ad
The six-second ad is garnering much praise across the board. Marketers and publishers see added value in shorter-form video ads, in light of how easy it is to adapt and run them across multiple platforms, ensuring they fit every channel and audience they’re targeting with greater accuracy. What’s more, the shorter the ad, the lower the cost required for the ad space to run it, making the six-second ad more likely to boost brands’ advertising ROI. It’s no wonder that more and more brands are building short-form video content to capture their target audience members’ attention, in just six precious seconds.
That said, running a single short video ad on a mobile game is not enough to successfully penetrate the gamer’s awareness and create a lasting impression. To generate real leads and nurture them to conversion, publishers must ensure that gamers view their ads on multiple platforms and via unique messaging strategies.
In other words, the key to success is simple: use six-second ads to reinforce advertising messages already delivered by long ads — in blog posts, on social media, and through other forms of digital content. And always ensure your message is crystal clear, even when briefly scanned by the impatient gamer’s eye. Graphics can serve your advertising purposes, just as much as the text or voice content itself.
Gamers are game for six-second ads
While mobile gamers may not be able to skip the six-second ad, they are far less bothered by it than they would be by a longer ad and are even interested in checking out what the short snippet has on offer. As such, they benefit from viewing a full message — perhaps learn a thing or two about your brand and its offering, without experiencing much, if any actual disruption. These short ads also lead to greater brand recall, so gamers can easily head to the brand’s website or brick-and-mortar store when they’re done playing for the day and acquire what they desire, without breaking up their mobile gaming experience.
Bottom line- Advertising is undergoing an exciting revolution within the mobile gaming experience, via the implementation of perfectly timed six-second ads. Short and sweet, these ads are keeping users in the game, while ensuring a positive user experience and positive reflection of every brand that advertises in mobile games, every time.
