WWW.MEDIAPOST.COM
Location, Location, Location
by Jack Loechner, Friday, May 7, 2010 8:15 AM
A new report, "Improving Ad
Performance Online," by the Online Publishers Association (OPA), found that advertising effectiveness scores on original content sites (represented by the group's member sites) were
numerically higher than on the Web, portals or ad networks. Sarah Barry James, reporting from SNL, quotes Stuart Schneiderman, director of research for the OPA as saying "One of the
biggest questions we get from the marketers and agencies is not only about whether online advertising is an effective branding mechanism or medium, but whether environment matters... "
Key findings show that ads on the OPA member sites had significant effectiveness in raising awareness, creating message association, generating brand favorability and driving purchase intent over
portals, ad networks and the overall average.
- Exposed to an ad on an OPA site, there was a 3.1 percentage point increase in aided brand awareness, a 5.1 percentage point
increase in online ad awareness, and a 1.7 percentage point increase in purchase intent.
- Ads on portals resulted in a 2.1 percentage point increase in aided brand awareness, a 4.5 percentage
point increase in online ad awareness and a 0.9 percentage point increase in purchase intent. Ads on ad networks resulted in only a 0.9 percentage point increase in aided brand awareness, a 3.0
percentage point increase in online ad awareness and no significant change in purchase intent.
- Notably, among 18- to 34-year-olds, users exposed to ads on ad networks were actually less likely
to buy the product being shown for having seen the ad. The OPA reported a 1.6 percentage point decrease in purchase intent due to ad network spots.
Ad Effectiveness "Deltas" (Ages 18-34)
Percentage Point Variance by Site ExposureExposureAided Brand AwarenessOnline Ad AwarenessMessage AssociationBrand FavorabilityPurchase Intent OPA 3.6 6.2 4.3 2.2
1.8 MarketNorm 2.8 5.0 2.9 1.6 1.1 Portals 2.4 5.0 3.0 1.2
1.0 Ad networks 1.4 3.4 1.8 -0.7 -1.6
Source: OPA,
April 2010 (from Dynamic Logic past 3yr campaigns through Q4 2009) The current report part of a series of OPA reports that leverage independent Dynamic
Logic's MarketNorms ® data for measuring online advertising's effectiveness and branding impact, offers additional analysis on ad effectiveness broken down by demographic, product category
and the most popular ad unit sizes used on the Web, including key observations such as:
- 18-34 year olds are more responsive to ads on OPA sites
- Advertising
effectiveness for categories such as CPG, entertainment and telecom was significantly higher on OPA sites than overall MarketNorms especially for the more difficult to move metrics like brand
favorability and purchase intent
- Telecom and travel advertising on portals led to statistically insignificant purchase intent while technology purchase intent on ad networks was also
insignificant
- Ad networks were shown to provide advertisers with the smallest change across ad effectiveness metrics
- The most popular ad sizes, medium rectangles, leaderboards and wide
skyscrapers, perform significantly better on OPA sites than MarketNorms on most metrics
- Video ad impact on content sites represented by OPA members was greater than the MarketNorms average,
and had the greatest impact on purchase intent and awareness metrics
- Consumers are more involved with interactive ads on OPA sites evidenced by their significantly higher awareness, message
association, brand favorability and purchase intent
Pam Horan, president of the OPA, concludes "... placement of your ad does matter, both in
its effectiveness and impact with consumers. Well-lit, high quality content sites continue to offer advertisers the opportunity to raise awareness, create message association, drive purchase intent
and generate brand favorability..."
The data in this report referred to as overall MarketNorms® refers to the average performance of all online campaigns measured by Dynamic
Logic in the last 3 years, including those on branded content sites, portals and ad networks. OPA's membership has an unduplicated audience of 172.5 million unique visitors or 83% reach of the
U.S. online population. For
additional information from the
Online Publishers Association, please visit here.