• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 23, 2013

On the heels of The Washington Post’s study this week indicating that “above the fold” isn’t necessarily the best place for ads to be placed, comScore Vice President Mike Rich just told OMMA Premium Display attendees that the online research giant has known that all along.

“We’ve seen the same thing,” Rich said in response to Steve Smith’s follow-up question about the finding.

“There’s a lot of assumptions being made,” Rich added, noting, “The assumption is that if I’m buying above-the-fold, it’s going to be great inventory.”

That’s not always the case, he explained, because users develop their own habits when visiting and navigating sites, and they often “get into the habit” of simply scrolling below-the-fold to find content they know is placed there.

“Users get familiar with where placements are, and therefore the chances to hit people with the placement of advertising gets more challenging,” he said, noting that even with responsive and adaptive Web design, no site developers have figured out a way of programming enough serendipity into a user’s experience to trick the user into bypassing those habits.

In other words, users still largely determine their own experience, regardless of a publisher’s UX.