• eMarketer, Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:01 PM

Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, tells eMarketer that "Search works, but it is the last step in the purchase funnel." He believes the click rate only provides "a short-term view" of how advertising works, as a direct-response rather than a branding tool. He says "Publishers would be out of their minds to take an average click rate of 0.1% to an advertiser or an agency and say, 'Here's an indication of advertising effectiveness.' It's not the right metric."

Fulgoni says viewing the Internet as a direct-response medium is "nonsense," and lays out a "provocative theory" for eMarketer. "Is the preoccupation with direct response partly a result of so many young people being involved in Internet advertising? [Direct response] is immediate gratification. Maybe they don't understand branding. They don't have a long-term perspective and they don't have patience. They gravitate towards direct response."

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