Don't Sweat Placement According to new research conducted by Roper Starch for the Newspaper Association of America, full-page newspaper ads are noticed by readers 39% more often than quarter-page ads. The study, measuring more than 650 newspaper display ads across a variety of national and retail advertising categories reported that readers also notice color ads more frequently. Four-color newspaper ads get readers' attention 20% more often than black-and-white ads and 13% more often than similar two-color advertisements. And, full color in an ad increases in-depth reading by more than 60%, compared to black-and-white advertising. - Same-size ads with full color were noted 20% more often than black-and-white ads, and were read 62% more often. Four-color ads also scored higher than two-color ads. - Use of a photograph boosted notice of an ad by 20%, compared with ads with simple line art. - Ads that display a product in use were noted 25% more often and received read-most scores 30% higher than ads without products portrayed. - Ads with prices were noted more than 80% more frequently than ads without prices. Too much price clutter, however, achieves diminishing returns. - Full-page ads were noted 39% more than quarter-page ads. - Placing ads next to editorial content rather than adjacent to other ads had no impact on readership. An ad's placement below or above the page fold also didn't affect scores. Placement within a section didn't change scores unless the ad was the first ad in a section, or on the back page. Left and right-hand page positions received identical noting scores. - The survey found that pages with as few as three ads scored the same as pages with up to nine ads. More information can be found here.