Verizon Media adds 2 native mobile ad features aimed at ecommerce and gaming advertisers

Verizon Media (formerly Oath) has rolled out two new features as part of its Moments mobile native ad suite: Touchpoints and Playable ads. The Touchpoints ad units are designed for ecommerce advertisers, offering a shoppable experience for product ads, and the Playable ads — which include an interactive preview of the game without a user having to install — are for game advertisers.

Why you should care

Ecommerce and gaming advertisers running Moments campaigns on the Oaths Ad Platforms will want to take advantage of the new ad features.

The Touchpoints ads, part of the Moments suite of ecommerce ad units, are designed to create more engagement with shoppers by letting users tap a pin within an ad to learn more about a product. Advertisers that have been given early access to the feature report a 23 percent lift in return on ad spend and a 35 percent increase in click-through-rates over standard native static ads.

The Playable ads give gaming advertisers the ability to run “try-before-you-buy” ads, offering an interactive preview of a game before a user downloads it. Chartboost, an in-app monetization and mobile advertising platform, reports game developers saw conversion rates improve two to four-times with Playable ads compared to static full-screen interstitial ads.

The two new ad features expand the Oath Ad Platforms’ Moments suite to six total ad types. Along with the Touchpoint and Playable ads, advertisers also have access to Carousel ads, Panorama ads, Dynamic Product Ads and Countdown ads. Verizon Media reports more than 800 Moments campaigns have been created since the launch of the platform last September.

Verizon Media’s list of media offerings is deep (Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost, Makers, TechCrunch and Tumblr among others), but the company has struggled to deliver on its business results. eMarketer reported this week that the company is projected to take less than a three percent (2.9%) share of the digital ad revenue market by the end of 2019 — down from the 3.4 percent market share it took in 2018. Meanwhile, competitors like Google and Facebook are expected to take a combined 60 percent share this year, while Amazon grabs 8.8 percent of the digital ad revenue pie.

The two latest ad features may help with its current roster of advertisers, but it’s unlikely the new ad roll-outs will move the needle when it comes to Verizon Media’s digital ad share this year.

More on the news

• Native advertising made up nearly 60 percent of all digital display spend in 2018, resulting in a 10 percent increase over 2017, according to an eMarketer report.
• The company reports its Moments mobile native ad units have experienced “terrific” momentum, and have ranked first in likability and brand clarity according to consumer surveys.
• Verizon Media changed its company name from Oath on January, 8, but has kept the name “Oath” in reference to its ad platform: Oath Ads Platforms.