Yahoo! Mobile Advertising Formats: Two Awful Ideas and One Possibly Interesting One
Chances are that you do one of two things when a commercial appears during a TV program you are watching:
1. You fast forward through it if you are watching a recording on your DVR
2. You pick up a smartphone, tablet, or notebook computer to “do something else” during the endless series of mostly boring commercials playing out one after another
Yahoo!’s answer to this appears to be at least two of the worst ideas I’ve read about this week.
Event TV Viewers Turn on, Tap Phones, Opt out of Commercials
Let’s look at Yahoo!’s solutions. Each of these shift advertising from the TV to the mobile device.
1. Yahoo! Mobile Screen Takeover: The advertisement remains on the screen as the user scrolls up and down. In other words, it is impossible to escape the ad. Ouch!
2. Yahoo! Mobile Customized Expandable: This obscures two-thirds of your mobile device’s display with advertisement. Again, ouch!
3. iPad Tap to Video: This is, at least, opt-in. And, it might be possible to create interesting video ads.
