Full-page advertisements may be a fairly alien concept on mobile, but AOL is looking to provide exactly that with its latest ad product.
The company has rolled out the Road Devil Interstitial for Mobile to further its commitment to ad performance on cross-screen campaigns.
AOL has also added the new 300×1050 unit placement to its Devil Ad Suite of premium formats, thus branding it as a top-level product.
With the full-screen ad expected to appear across AOL-owned publications such as Huffington Post as well as over 450 ‘brand-safe’ publishers in the near future, investors will be keeping a close eye on how their placements perform.
Winds of change
As online habits evolve, AOL claims it is trying to keep up with the times with richer, higher impact ad experiences.
Recently, the company unveiled a new Native Anywhere suite of solutions to help companies piggyback on the popularity and effectiveness of branded content.
But while this could be considered a safe move by a company which achieves over 160 million unique visitors per month on sites which use its ad network, plastering smartphone and tablet screens with full-screen promotions represents a bold step into the unknown.
Commenting on the launch, Bob Lord, vice president and chief executive officer of AOL Platforms, insisted the Road Devil Interstitial for Mobile is “well suited” to meet the demands of advertisers. He added that all of AOL’s premium ad products are assisted and driven by consumer data to ensure relevancy at every turn.
The mobile method
Mobile display ads most commonly arrive in the form of banners, or placements running alongside web content. Desktop sites are known for their hosting of full-page advertisements which expand across the screen with the click of a button.
On mobile, however, these types of placements are seldom seen. This is partly down to advertisers not willing to risk the overkill, but also due to a lack of available technology for rolling these out.
Apple is one of the more recent advocates of interstitials on mobile, announcing two new full-screen ad products for any apps available on iPhone or iPad.