Online advertising in China has recorded revenue of close to US$21,921 million in 2019, according to Statista. With the demise of print media seeming inevitable, the popularity of online advertising shows no sign of stopping.
Splash ads are a type of streaming advertising — currently the most popular form of online advertising. A splash ad often comes in the format of a picture, video or Flash, appears on screen for three to five seconds when an app is launched.
Over the past Chinese New Year, we met with great success in our campaign for Meraas, a Dubai-based conglomerate that seeks to promote the United Arab Emirates as a country to live and work in, as well as for holidays. One of our strategies to drive web traffic and gain exposure for Meraas was splash ads on a variety of apps. Targeting customers in China, the online event invited the audience to register for a chance to win return air-tickets to Dubai and hotel accommodation among many other prizes. We came up with a range of impactful splash ads with enticing slogans to encourage the audience to click on the ads and register for the event. Over 60 online platforms participated in the campaign, including Toutiao, Tik-Tok, Baidu, WPS and SelfieCity.
The campaign has generated over 10 million impressions and 2 million click-through rates, along with meaningful data on gender, geographical location and user behavior patterns useful for future targeting.
A splash ad appears only for seconds upon the opening of an app, when the user is expecting to reach a certain page. The “surprise” element captures the user’s attention and gives the ad an exciting visual effect without being too aggravating. A frequency cap can also be put in to minimize annoyance. Although splash ads are relatively costly, most believe the positive impacts and effectiveness are more than enough to justify the price difference.
Itching to give splash ads a try? Here are a few tips:
1. Optimal length: three to five seconds
2. Usual sizes: 720×1280, 640×960
3. Conduct offline review two or three days in advance as review standards surrounding splash ads are comparatively stringent.
Have a question in mind? Feel free to consult our specialists regarding ad strategies and optimization.