Technology Correspondent
This edition of ‘Business Day Spotlight’ focuses on the evolution of online advertising.
Host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Nicolas van Zyl, CEO of advertising technology (ad-tech) firm Naritive.
Citing data from Lumen Research, Van Zyl notes that 70% of viewable ads are ignored by consumers.
This means humans have subconsciously trained themselves to tune out programmatic display ads like the banners framing content on websites.
Van Zyl says traditional digital marketing has heavily relied on reach and impressions, which he argues can often misinterpret data to tell a successful story that isn’t actually true to human behaviour.
To combat this “ad blindness”, Naritive sits between the business, the platform and the user to reinvent the programmatic display ad experience.
By embedding interactive features, the platform measures attention as a success metric; that is, how long someone actively sits with and engages with an ad, rather than just tracking if the ad simply loads on a page.
Van Zyl notes that for an advertising technology business to survive in an era where data and knowledge have been completely democratised, a company must foster a culture of constant evolution.
The conversation provides a deep dive into the evolution of digital advertising, the psychological shift in how consumers interact with media, and the mechanics of Naritive’s attention-based ad technology.
Join the discussion:
Producer: Demi Buzo
‘Business Day Spotlight’ is an Arena Podcasts production.
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