Ad Experiences in News Products
Pleasant ad experiences play a crucial role in funding media companies and this is no different for publications where digital and native ads remain significant revenue sources for media organisations.
This was a collaboration between Product Design and Media Solutions to review and design the ad experience across BT platform products.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of SPH Media.
The Challenge
Improve Overall Ad Performance in 2 Months
With the declining page views and reduced traffic across news sites, it has created an unwelcome added challenge caused by programmed ad placements which are still sold based on total impressions. Consequently, this results in a decrease in ad revenue. A sizeable of the publishing industry is still made up by ad revenue and for The Business Times, this signalled a need for rapid change in ad experiences and placements.
Our high level goals were to:
Evaluate the existing ad experience and placements across BT platform.
Improve overall ad view-ability and consequently, increase ad revenue.
My Role
I was responsible for the experience strategy and design of the ad experience across Desktop and Mobile Web and collaborated closely with a Digital Ads Manager since the outset of the project in March 2023.
My role was to address the decline in ad performance and propose quick design enhancements to uplift ad view-ability and provide an non-intrusive ad experience for continuous content consumption. In the initial phase, I strategically prioritised the redesign of article pages to yield maximum impact. Within a span of fewer than 3 weeks, the design solutions were shipped.
This project is conducted in phases and the first phase of design changes was live on The Business Times’ website on April 17, 2023.
The Discovery
Ad view-ability
For an ad to be considered “viewed”, at least 50% must be displayed on the screen for >1 second.
Reading convenience
Any experience that makes it harder to focus on the content in a small mobile window is likely to irritate mobile users.
I conducted a preliminary UX audit of the current site and reviewed the best advertising practices and industry standards within the publishing field to inform the planning phase. These crucial insights helped shape the final launched version:
Start with Article Pages
To deliver the most significant impact, we should begin with article pages since 78% of our readers first land on these pages.
Reader control
Any obstacle to controlling the flow of information at their own pace is unacceptable to desktop users.
The Vision
Balance Between Ads and Reading Experience
As a publication, displaying ads is inevitable however we can manage how these ads are being presented to our readers and learn how to show ads in the right away. The biggest indicator that an ad is user-friendly is when the ad integrates seamlessly with the user journey. Therefore, our vision was to showcase ads that do not interfere with our users’ reading experience while also increasing ad revenue in order to meet business needs.
Now, introducing the revised ad placements
Ads are progressively becoming more intrusive, and as a publication, we can empathise. With these updated ad placements, annoying and disruptive ads will gradually become a thing of the past. Our aim is to transition towards a smooth and uninterrupted reading experience for everyone.
Flow of information at your own pace
We introduce the sticky ad at the right rail so our desktop readers can continue to read at their own pace without being disrupted. In addition, clear ad labels and white spacing are used to help readers distinguish between an ad and native content.
Seamlessly exist with content
Compact ads anchored to the bottom of a small screen will blend seamlessly with the content, ensuring a smooth reader experience without any disruptions.
Considering business goals
We found an opportunity to add an additional sticky ad at the end of the right rail, which would fully utilise the space and increase existing display inventory.
The Impact: Major Uplift in Ad Revenue
The ad placement redesign across the platform page successfully met the team’s primary goal of improving ad performance, a significant accomplishment achieved within just one month between April and May. Given that page views remained consistent over the past few months, it can be deduced that the uplift in ad revenue can be attributed to the proposed design recommendations.