Last week, we discussed how recent developments and industry trends have led to Flash being gradually phased out, majorly impacting the creation and delivery of digital advertising creative which has traditionally been built using Adobe’s Flash software. In the final installment, this quick guide outlines the benefits and impact caused by this move in addition to providing helpful tips for successful delivery and optimisation of digital ad creative.
If the demise of Flash is a problem, HTML5 is the simple and effective solution. HTML5 is quickly becoming the standard for building rich media ad creative as it is compatible across browsers and devices (including desktop, smartphones and tablets). In addition to compatibility benefits, built-in audio/video playback capability results in fewer errors when serving rich ads. Other benefits include:
Time saving
Building ads in HTML5 can save designers a significant amount of time as creative can be built once and then adapted to render across all screens/devices accordingly.
Cost savings
Industry-wide HTML5 standards only require building in one programme, minimising additional costs traditionally charged by creative agencies building in multiple platforms.
Effectiveness
In a world where our audiences are always connected and consuming media across devices throughout the day, advertising experiences should be delivered seamlessly across these. HTML5 offers consistency and the ability to easily evaluate ad performance for the optimisation of digital campaign budgets.
It’s therefore crucial for all digital advertisers to make the creative transition to HTML5 across all screens as soon as possible. Our Mobile & Tech Futures team has been busy helping clients make the transition to HTML5 with the help of our team at Mobile5’s production expertise. However, brands currently relying on live Flash ad creative should ensure existing campaigns are meticulously device/browser targeted to minimise wastage ahead of moving over to HTML5 ads in the future.