While content sites still struggle to convince advertisers to test the waters online, a study released today by the Internet Advertising Bureau suggests that banner ads on the Net are working - maybe even better than TV.
Conducted throughout June at 12 different sites, the IAB research indicates that online campaigns can raise advertising effectiveness and brand awareness some 30 percent, and may even out-perform television for first-time exposure. While the findings are not exactly groundbreaking (80 percent of online advertising is already done with banner ads, according to Jupiter Communications), the IAB's conclusions are a significant vote of confidence for the Web as a media buying channel.
The study used a control design to test advertising effectiveness. In the first wave, more than 1 million surfers were prompted to fill out a query form as they linked to one of 12 sites (including CNN, ESPN SportsZone, HotWired, Ziff-Davis, and Excite). Some 35,000 people were then selected from the group of 70,000 respondents. After completing the form, the participants were linked to the site they had originally requested and were served up with either a test ad banner (from one of 12 participating companies) or a control banner (randomly selected).
Within a week, the respondents were contacted via email about their ability to remember the brands of the companies. The participants were asked "Which of the following brands have you seen an ad for in the past seven days online?" and "Now thinking about this brand, would you say it is a good brand?" Some 16,758 surfers (about 47 percent of the initial group) completed the form, making for what the IAB claims is the "largest" test sample to date.
Using a scale called FORCE (First Opportunity to see Reaction Created by the Execution), the study designed by MBInteractive shows that the Web could pose a significant challenge to TV for brand impact. At a single exposure, only 10 percent of respondents recall seeing an ad on TV, compared to 12 percent for those seeing ads online. Print, however, remains the most effective media for advertisers, with 19 percent recognition after a single exposure to an ad.
Rex Briggs, vice president of MBInteractive, said that one of the study's most illuminating findings is that "the majority of the brand campaign enhancement is coming from [banner] exposure, not the clickthrough." While users who click on ads have a higher level of brand awareness, they constitute on average only 2 percent of users. Ad campaigns that use enigmatic messages on their banners (without the brand name present) would need "unrealistically high" clickthrough rates of about 26 percent to match the branded-banners, said Briggs.
"The notion in the industry has always been that you click on the banner to get the real ad, but [this study] proves that the banner is the real ad," said IAB president Richard LeFurgy, who also serves as senior vice president of advertising at ESPN/ABC News Internet Ventures. "The banner will become critical - across media [as advertising]."
