Skift Take

Spending on targeted advertising in travel will keep building throughout 2016 and in the process brands need to help travelers better understand how they're being targeted and why that's a good thing.

Targeted advertising accounted for about 70% of travel ad displays in 2015 as brands attempted to learn more information about travelers.

That’s according to a new report from Adadyn and EyeForTravel, a marketing technology company and travel conference, respectively, which also found that targeted advertising comprised about 60% of all non-search advertising at the end of 2015. Yet targeted advertising made up only 25% of travel brands’ ad spending last year and fewer than half of brands surveyed for the report (44%) said they currently spend money on targeted ads.

The two companies surveyed 1,000 U.S. travelers and found that while 68% feel targeted mobile ads relevant to time and place are useful while some 42% said they’ve never clicked on a mobile ad.

Respondents indicated they’d be more willing to tell brands about their trip history versus their travel-related browsing history, which sometimes aren’t the same. And fewer than 20% of travelers surveyed would let brands comb through their social media profiles.

“Brands are now looking to universal logins and device recognition,” the report states. “Universal logins, such as using Facebook details to create a new account for a hotel chain website, make it easier to track users as they move between devices or across the web.”

Chart 1: More than half of respondents have clicked on a mobile ad. A higher percentage of younger travelers than older travelers said they’ve clicked on a mobile ad.

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Chart 2: Significant percentages of younger travelers feel it’s useful to receive ads on mobile devices relevant to time and place. But there’s still doubt about this as nearly a third of respondents felt these kinds of ads weren’t useful.

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Chart 3: Travelers are weary of handing over information that could help brands actually personalize their deals and promotions. Fewer than 20% of respondents said they’d let brands access their browsing and purchase histories or social media profiles, for example, which tell a lot about someone’s interests.

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Chart 4: This last chart reveals a catch 22. Although high percentages of respondents from each age group said they’re more likely to click on targeted ads for vacation destinations they’ve already searched for, they’re not willing to let brands access their browsing history as the previous chart shows. It’s clear that there’s disconnect with travelers concerning their understanding of what information brands need access to for providing targeted ads.

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Tags: advertising, marketing, skiftstats

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