The reality of rich media: It`s not necessarily a bandwidth hog
Broadband penetration is up in U.S. households is up
and so is marketers’ use of rich media. Now about representing about
11% of all online ad spending, rich and streaming media will account for
some 39% of online ad spending by 2008, according to Jupiter Research.
Though the two rising trends are linked, it’s a
cause and effect relationship that may have more to do with
marketers’ perception of the bandwidth and connection speed required
to deliver and view some rich media formats than the reality. Jupiter
analyst Nate Elliott defines rich media technology as online media
technology that allows user interaction or contains audio or video. Running
the gamut from features such as the ability to zoom in on or rotate a
product image to streaming audio or video, rich media technology includes
some varieties used in online ads and as web site content that don`t
necessarily require a lot of bandwidth.
Flash technology, for instance, can deliver a rich
experience without using a lot of bandwidth, he points out. "A good
designer can build some very rich executions that can be seen on any type
of connection speed," he adds.
While worries about the effect of slower connection
speeds may be fading, online marketers contemplating or using rich media
still face another issue in implementation. "It can be time consuming
to implement," says Elliott. With existing video on all its products,
a marketer such as QVC.com, for example, can easily put that video up
online. By contrast, an athletic shoe manufacturer that needs to model
hundreds of shoes in 3-D so shoppers can rotate the product image has a
bigger challenge. "It`s going to be more time consuming if those
assets don’t already exist," says Elliott.
