iGB Affiliate 70 Aug/Sept | Page 22

TRAFFIC WORLD CUP 2018: DISPLAY ADVERTISING INSIGHTS The FIFA World Cup 2018 brought unexpected results and proved that it’s not always the big names that get the wins. The same was true of display advertising and there are some exciting insights to be gleaned from post-tournament analysis, says Björn Karlström OVER THE FOUR WEEKS of the tournament, we collated data on impressions, click-through rates (CTR) and mobile usage from all the ads served via the Bannerflow creative management platform. The data we gathered provides some interesting information about how this event engaged with millions of viewers and impacted digital advertisers. At the beginning of the World Cup we predicted that: ● ● Mobile usage would be much higher than normal ● ● Unconventional banner sizes would be the unexpected heroes ● ● The igaming industry would be crowned champion In these respects, we weren’t let down. viewership this was not unexpected; for the earlier matches we saw more consistent data but once we reached later games impressions increased exponentially. Bet on the little guy At the beginning of the tournament, we predicted that the biggest changes in impression data would occur in mobile formats. We weren’t disappointed, with sizes such as 320x50, 320x250 and 320x160 accounting for the largest spikes. Nevertheless, this type of event is a good opportunity to try less-popular formats. Impression data may be higher for traditional sizes but investing in unconventional formats, where there is less competition, will likely reduce your costs per thousand (CPM). Impressions soared like Croatia It’s interesting to look at impression data throughout the tournament. Although it was reasonable to expect overall impressions to rise, as we entered the later stages the pattern changed significantly. Compare, for example, the Russia vs Egypt group-stage game with the tournament final and you see impression data rose by more than 100%. For the stages with fewer games but a higher The odd-one-out had the better odds It seems that unconventional sizes not only reduce CPM but can also increase CTR as well, with sizes such as 120x300 and 120x240 getting a boost. But it’s important to factor these events into your campaign calendar no matter what format you choose. Across the board, “For the greatest ROI from your display advertising, it’s necessary to go beyond standardised banners and create event-oriented campaigns” 18 iGB Affiliate Issue 70 AUG/SEP 2018 CTR rates improved by between 0.12% and 0.13% throughout the tournament period. For the greatest return on investment from your display advertising, it’s necessary to go beyond standardised banners and create some event-oriented campaigns for conversion success. Thinking mobile-first is for champions As expected, mobile usage saw a spike over the tournament period. Second-screen viewing is typically higher during periods where viewers watch out of home or while also watching TV (see Figure 1). Interestingly, there was a disparity between weekdays and weekends for mobile usage. There was an average rise of 8.4% during the week compared with an overall uplift of 6.4% (see Figure 2). This is in line with our general understanding of how fans were watching during the week, with greater numbers browsing on their phones while watching the match at the office. ‘Soccer’ came home (even if the team never left) At the beginning of the tournament we were intrigued to see how countries that didn’t qualify for the World Cup would fare in impression data. After assessing the results, we found that countries such as the US still witnessed