Maintaining the monetization of the platforms while providing value for the end consumer is perhaps the most important dilemma in modern digital advertising. The ad interruptions that have been proven to be the primary reason for users’ disillusionment represent a paradox for both the publishers and the advertisers.
Ad Podding is a well-formatted approach where more than one ads are included in a break very much like having more than one commercial during a TV show. Seen in OTT platforms, mobile apps, and streaming services, ad podding helps decrease ad repetitions while increasing ad placements.
What is Ad Podding?
Ad Podding is the process through which a number of ads are aired one after the other with each ad break. Unlike individual advertisements that display only one ad, which are placed from time to time, an ad pod collects 2-5 ads into a well-organized block, improving the effectiveness of both ad sales and viewership.
This method is widely deployed in OTT platforms such as Hulu, Peacock and mobile games as well as podcasts for delivering ads more effectively in a nonintermittent manner.
For instance in a 90sec ad pod, the audience may be presented with three consecutive 30sec advertisements. It simplifies the ads delivery, minimizes the number of ad interrupting intervals, and allows for producing a joint advertising campaign.
The major benefit has term of conveying more advertisements without the interference of the content flow a certain number of times, which is also trying to combat the major issue of user fatigue, while at the same time providing more value to advertisers.
How Ad Podding Works
Ad podding operates through a systematic process that optimizes ad delivery:
Ad Selection:
Programmatic algorithms determine Advertisements to be placed in consideration to the user data, Advertisers’ goals, desires among others.
Ad Grouping:
These ads are grouped in a pod, usually 2-5 of them. Within such a pod, each of the ads is given a position according to its duration, type, and similarity to the others.
Delivery:
These appear at the prerequisite ad zones, which includes pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll. The total amount of time a pod lasts is well calibrated with the tolerance time of the users.
Performance Tracking:
Pod performance is evaluated with ad completion rate, impressions, and viewership and used for decision-making in future pods.
For example, a 2-minute pod might include four ads: A product tease of 15 seconds, a brand advertisement of 30 seconds and two short promotional adverts. This structured delivery optimizes the number of advertisements aired, provides a seamless content experience for the viewer while still allowing the publisher to generate maximum ad revenue possible.
The Difference Between Ad Podding and Ad Slots
Despite ad podding and ad slots both being used to display ads during content play, they distinctly differ in structure and appearance to the user.
Ad Slots:
These are ads that are placed individually and are located at certain points of the content. This results in ‘single spot’ adverts where only one advert is aired during each break hence making the slots simpler but more frequent.
Ad Podding:
Ad podding involves grouping several ads into one break, thus making it less interruptive to the audience. For instance, a pod may present three consecutive 30 seconds ads in a single 90-second stoppage of the program.
From a consumer angle, excessive ad break slots could be quite intrusive, hence resulting in low customer satisfaction and content dump. Ad podding solves this problem by grouping adverts, providing a more organized schedule resulting to greater advocacy for advertisers.
Benefits of Ad Podding
Ad podding creates a number of benefits to advertisers, publishers, and users to have the more efficient ad delivery and interaction for all parties.
For advertisers, one of the most unique advantages is that sequential messaging can be executed effortlessly. Rather than using disconnected single adverts, brands may use a continuous narrative between adverts within that break. This approach makes the campaigns to be more effective and influential since the audiences are presented with many instances in one sitting.
From the perspective of publishers, ad podding is the better form of utilizing the ad inventory. Therefore, if more ads are combined into a single break, the publisher can increase his revenue without having to interfere with the continuity of the program. This is not only increases ad fill rates, but effectively decrease the rate of users’ churn, which mainly caused by advertisement interruptions. Stated differently, interruptions potentially affect the overall user satisfaction because users are less likely to leave the content in-between, thus improving retention rates.
From the user’s point of view, ad podding is more structured and easier to understand than interrupted ads. Rather than coming across many ads placed at any time throughout their session, they are served few of them, meaning continuity is achieved. The breaks might be slightly longer though the concept of ad pods are not considered as interruptive as the other form of disrupting intervals.
In essence, ad podding is a way to maximize revenues without fully impacting their users’ experience. This way it enables advertisers to convey effective message, publishers to improve monetization strategy, and users get to experienced content with less interferences. This establishment makes ad podding an even more popular tactic in today’s world of digital marketing.
Challenges or Limitations of Ad Podding
While ad podding offers significant benefits, it presents certain challenges:
Ad Fatigue:
This is because long ad pods can cause mental fatigue thus making the viewers to switch off or lose focus. There has been a consensus that optimally determining the pod length is important.
Content Relevance:
A user may get annoyed if he or she is presented with either repeatedly similar ads or unnecessary ads within that pod. And the key has been to diversify and go down into more and more specific niches.
Viewer Tolerance:
There is a clear trade-off between the pod length and the level of users’ interaction with a platform. For instance, OTT viewers may accept a pod of 2 minutes, while mobile app users may prefer shorter pod sizes.
Measurement Complexity:
Exact monitoring of each ad within the pod becomes problematic, yet it is crucial for effective ad rotation.
To overcome these limitations requires strategy, appropriate advertising content and constant experimenting to obtain a good experience from the user side as well as a successful campaign from the advertisers end.
Best Practices for Implementing Ad Podding
There is the need to strike a balance in this case in order to encourage effectiveness in ad podding for both the viewers and the sake of the advertisers and the publishers.
First, limit your ad pods. In any given post, ideally they should be about 60 to 120 seconds. Anything beyond that is likely to compromise a viewer’s interest, while short pods may sometimes miss out on certain chances.
Next, there is a need to diversify the ads within the pod. The same advertisement every time is one way of ensuring that your audience gets frustrated. It means that content combining ensures variety in performing the activity as well as prevents boredom during the break.
Personalization also contributes a lot to this factor. Targeted advertising is the process of making sure that whatever advert is displayed, is appealing to the viewer, this way it becomes more like a valued addition.
Placement matters too. In the case of pod design, always ensure to place the best or the ads that can gain the attention of the viewers at the initial position of the pod. This strategy grabs attention from the start and gives this break the best possible chance to make viewers stick around.
Lastly, we must not forget to test and analyze. Make sure to monitor such parameters as the completion rates or the number of impressions to know what produces some sort of an effect. Crediting those findings we can continuously improve pod structure and the content of ads progressively.
Now, with implementation of these best practices, viewers are not disrupted, and publishers can maximize their earnings and advertisers can get the performance they need.
Bottom Line
Ad podding is actually a strong tool for those that want to improve the delivery of ads and at the same time, provide a better experience for the users. Combined with multiple ads into unfold breaks, it does away with ad fatigue and excessive interruptions as main concerns.
When implemented effectively, ad podding increases engagement, drives better ROI and unpins the concept of improved continuity for the intended content. And as we move forward in the digital advertising landscape mastering ad podding would prove to be majorly important for sustainable success to be achieved.