What does Above The Fold (ATF) mean in Online Advertising?
Above The Fold (ATF) refers to the prominent space on the top of a webpage when it first loads. This is the prime real-estate as visitors are bound to notice the content (text, image, video, multimedia) appearing ATF in a far more significant way.
According to a Google’s analysis of display advertising study-
- Ads appearing above the fold have a 73% visibility
- Ads appearing below the fold have just 44% visibility.
ATF originates from the upper half of the front page of a newspaper, where the main news story or headline is often located. Readers didn’t have to open the newspaper to read more, so publishers placed the biggest and most attention-grabbing stories at the top.
Passersby were usually able to see the top half of the front page when they folded the paper in half. Unless they were captivated by what they saw, they would keep walking, and sales would drop. Therefore, it was imperative to feature the most interesting, best content “above the fold” and lesser content “below the fold”.
Above the Fold and Below the Fold ads in a computer screen have the same effect as in a newspaper. These advertisements are more likely to be interacted with, more impressions, click-throughs, etc. There is a chance that most of the users will exit a page without interacting at all. Hence ads which are ATF are the only ones that are guaranteed to be Viewed Impressions.
First impressions are crucial
If the “above the fold” website content doesn’t grab a visitors’ attention the moment they land on a site, they won’t bother to stick around any longer. But if you get their attention, and they’ll stick around, subscribe, and buy. Poor above-the-fold content leads to a high bounce rate, which negatively impacts SEO and, in an Amazon, ecommerce context it leads to lower Impressions and Click Share and eventually low RoI on ad spend.
What does Above The Fold (ATF) looks like on Amazon:
BELOW THE FOLD:
On the Contrary, Below The Fold (BTF) means the space on a web page seen once a user scroll down. Ads placed here are usually less interacted with by users than above-the-fold ads, so command a lower Cost per thousand impressions (CPM).
What are the most essential Digital Advertising KPIs?
- Impressions: How many times an ad is shown
- Clicks or Ad-Clicks: The number of times an ad is clicked by a visitor
- Click-through rate (CTR): The % of impressions that result in a click
- Reach: The number of visitors who were shown the advertisement
- Video completion rate: The number of times viewers who are shown a video ad watches the entire ad
- Conversion rate: The number of times customers performed a desired action (click, purchase, subscription) after viewing the ad
- Ad-attributed sales: Sales that can be traced back to the ad
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): The total revenue that was generated by the ad campaign vs amount spent on the ads
- Return on Investment (ROI): The net profit that was earned from the ad campaign vs amount spent on the ads
- Advertising Cost of Sales (ACOS): The percentage of ad spend vs ad-attributed sales generated
- New-to-brand sales: Purchases made by new customers (who had never bought from you before)
What are the different types of Online/Digital advertising?
Thoughts on Amazon Advertising – Sponsored Ads:
Increasingly, paid product listings precede ecommerce sales. Along with Amazon Advertising we now have other Retail media platforms like Walmart Connect, Google Shopping etc vying for the growing ecommerce advertising pie. Sponsored listings are becoming more common among marketers and accounts for a greater portion of traffic and sales than organic listings.
Amazon Sponsored Products has now grown from 20% of Amazon’s top inventory to covering 40% of the average shopping search (Source: Amazon ad agency Momentum Commerce’s Amazon Brand Index tool). And a vast majority of these sponsored ads are being displayed Above The Fold via-a-vis Below The Fold!