6 of the Best Types of Media Advertising To Grow Your Brand in 2021

Media advertising is an engaging ad format that works to increase peoples’ consideration of a specific brand during the exploration and evaluation stage of the consumer journey. Businesses use media ads to support their company’s value proposition, drive new sales, and grow their market share. 

There are so many types of media ads to consider, but they may not be right for every business at every moment. Add the many misconceptions surrounding media ads, and the result is missed opportunities and wasted ad spend. 

To prevent this from happening to your business, let’s take a look at what exactly media ads are, which ones are on the rise for 2021, and explore how you can start harnessing the power of media ads to drive growth for your business.

What is media advertising?

Media advertising serves one primary goal — to attract a website’s visitors to take a specific action, often introducing your brand to a new audience or remarketing to those who have interacted with your brand previously. Media ads typically use visuals, audio, text, or a combination to achieve this goal.

To clear up a common misconception, it’s important to note that media advertising is not the same as social media advertising. Whereas social media ads are sponsored posts on platforms like Instagram or TikTok, media ads on the other hand live on various platforms and take many different forms.

Most people associate media ads purely with display banners (image-based ads that appear on websites). Yes, media ads do include display banners but also so much more! There are native display ads, content display ads, email ads, cross-screen video ads, podcast ads, and streaming audio ads, to name a few.

Different types of media ads are valuable tools for any business that wants to grow its consumer base and market share. These approaches are often used in spurts, especially by companies with smaller budgets, as supporting multiple types simultaneously can be budget-intensive.

So, every kind of business can, and should, implement media advertising tactics. If you show consumers your reasons to believe (RTBs) through audio, video, and high-impact display ads, they will hear about it, see it, and get a quick reminder so that when the trigger to purchase happens, your brand is top-of-mind.

The 6 Types of Media Ads to Use in 2021

To get the most out of media ads, you have to use the right type — or combination of types — for your goals, target audience, and brand. We’ve bucketed all the rising stars this year into two categories: cross-screen video and audio. These ad types are best equipped to drive success in 2021. 

Cross-Screen Video Formats

The advertising industry has been saying that video is the future for years, and now that future is here. “Cross-screen” simply refers to videos that are deliverable across desktop, mobile, app, and connected TV screens. This is a powerful way to reach huge numbers of potential customers, as online video consumption has been increasing for years with 2020 only accelerating this trend.

Video is especially valuable for marketers because it does a great job of getting your message across to an audience that is actually listening. As a format, video feels much more natural than something static like a display banner, which people have trained themselves to block out. 

Here are the top cross-screen video ad formats to take advantage of this year:

1. Online Video

Online video ads run across publishers’ sites (websites or apps that your target audience typically visits) in a similar way to banner ads. However, unlike banner ads, they are video-based instead of a still image. These ads can also come before video content on a publisher’s site as a pre-roll.

2. Provider Direct

Provider direct ads are video ads that come before, during, and after the videos people watch within specified publishers like YouTube or Hulu. There are many different lengths of provider direct ads available depending on your messaging.

3. CTV Advertising

Connected TVs (CTVs) are commonly referred to as smart TVs or connected devices. This advertising channel is accessed through devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast or Pluto TV and Sling services that allow users to access video on a TV outside of traditional cable services. CTV ads run on the publishers (ABC through the Roku App) or “channels” (ABC through Sling) that people are watching on their chosen device, similar to a traditional television commercial but with the benefits of digital advertising.

4. Full-Episode Player

Full-episode programming or full-episode players (FEPs) are similar to CTV ads but are not exclusive to your TV screen. They are any long-form videos on a network’s app or website, like episodes of Good Morning America available on ABC’s website. Ad placement in these commercial breaks offers similar benefits to CTV — highly targeted messaging toward a captive audience that’s prone to “binge-watching.”

Digital Audio Formats

Just like video, audio is another media advertising format that continues to grow year after year. Also similar to video, audio ads allow brands to convey their selling points in a format that people pay more attention to and have trust in. There are two main audio types to reap the benefits of here:

5. Streaming Audio

One way audio ads can be placed is in music or “radio” streaming. For example, targeted ads run on streaming platforms like the free versions of Pandora, SoundCloud, or Spotify. In these cases, people are aware they aren’t paying for the premium ad-free version of the platform, so they’re more willing to hear your ads. As a result, these streaming spots tend to result in more consideration from the consumer, and therefore more conversions.

6. Podcast Integrations

With podcasts, the benefit is similar to free streaming — people are aware that advertisements are how the podcast host gets paid, so they’re more open to hearing ads in this environment. Podcasts are also tied to a known person or show, so the consumer trusts ads more in this context.

There are a few different ways to advertise through podcasts, and they mainly depend on your marketing budget and goal:

• Programmatic Buys — This is the cheapest option and involves buying ads across a network of podcasts that aren’t host-read, similar to a streaming audio ad.
• Host-Read Ads — These carry more weight in the consumer’s eye (or ear) and are more like a sponsorship, as the show’s host reads aloud your ad spot.
• Custom Episodes or Shows — This involves sponsoring an entire podcast episode or show and creating large parts of the content with the host.

No matter which type of podcast ad placement you decide to implement in your strategy, you’re sure to see the results of this highly engaging media advertisement.

Start Driving Growth With Media Advertising

The exact approach you take and the media mix that you use will be unique to your brand and target audience. Always test between different media ad types to determine the best fit for your business goals and keep tuning in to what the experts are doing.