ROI' with southern gentility will revert to an apoplectic rage. Every agency, ad network, third party ad server, ISP, and site has their press release troops pumping out paragraph after paragraph, touting their full support of rich media. Seminars, panels, and speakers are booked to standing room only audiences at trade shows and conferences around the country whenever the subject of rich media is on the bill. In the latest IAB report about online ad spending, rich media advertising doesn't even warrant its own category. Instead, it gets lumped in with email and newsletter advertising which accounts for only 11 percent of all the money spent online.
Rich media is complicated and fundamentally misunderstood by just about everyone.
It's a lot easier to issue a press release than to do the work. I can't do anything about reason numbers one and three, but I'm going to attempt to do something about reason number two. A clear definition of the term rich media seems elusive, but much like pornography, I know it when I see it. We'll examine what people are saying on the discussion lists, dissect the latest reports and press releases, and critique the latest campaigns. Welcome to Rich Media 101.