Advertising Trend: Why Are Ads Losing Sound?

It’s not quiet because your volume is turned down. It’s silent because ads are losing sound. This advertising trend has recently been making waves across the industry. Based on data from a Statista survey published in February 2024, 66.7% of consumers in the United States said video ads that automatically played sound were the most annoying type of digital ads. So, what did marketers and advertisers do? They started coming up with alternatives to increase ad engagement while simultaneously decreasing frustration levels among their audiences. The rest of this blog aims to examine some of the tactics being implemented to do exactly this.

Outstream Ad Benefits

Outstream ads automatically play when they come into view on a web page or app but pause when people scroll past them. This feature offers two important things: a soundless viewing experience and a seamless transition from seeing an ad to viewing primary content. People are more likely to engage with an ad they don’t feel is being forced on them. According to a study from ChatterBlast, soundless ads ranked higher than ads with sound in four different categories:

• Engagement: Soundless ads preferred 68.4% of the time.
• Video Views: Soundless ads preferred 53.5% of the time.
• Website Traffic: Soundless ads preferred 55.5% of the time.
• Conversions: Soundless ads preferred 77.7% of the time.

There are three different forms of outstream ads that can be implemented, all of which cater to different advertising goals and user experiences.

• In-Page: Seamlessly integrated into content and executed strategically within the layout of a web page.
• In-Banner: Combination of static banner ads, engaging videos or ads that usually inhabit a designated space.
• In-Text: Video ads embedded directly within written articles or textual content.

Introducing the Use of Captions

Another way advertisers are adapting to this trend, is adding captions to ads posted on social media. Besides contributing to the trend of ads losing sound, there are myriad benefits to implementing captions.

1. Boosting engagement: Ads with captions typically perform better on every engagement metric (impressions, likes and views).
2. Making ads inclusive: Globally, more than 1.5 billion people experience some form of hearing loss or disability. The use of captions can increase accessibility and allow you to reach a larger portion of your target audience.
3. Increase SEO ranking: Caption indexing can search for relevant keywords in the script you write for an ad. This increases both SEO and the likelihood of your ad ranking higher online.

Animation Increase

Instead of using sound, advertisers have also started increasing the use of animations in ads to appeal to people’s visual and emotional senses. Due to this ability to engage with audiences, the use of animations can help increase conversion rates and improve an audience’s understanding of a certain product or service.

If you’re looking for more insight on ads and how to use them to engage with your audience, then you’re in the right place! Appleton is an award-winning,?full-service Orlando advertising agency?that works with local, national and international clients to deliver impressive ad campaigns, branding, print, web, public relations, social media and video services —?all in-house. At Appleton, we want to learn about your business, empower your marketing team and be your creative resource. Your advertising goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-537-6352 or?[email protected].