• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 27, 2009

According to a new survey by Lightspeed Research and the Internet Advertising Bureau, the online audience wants advertisements that are relevant, useful and incentified with money off, but the results reveal that there are key differences by age group when developing appealing advertising executions. Though the study was completed in the UK, the demographics and response should provide a parallel for US Internet advertising and advertisers.

The survey found that younger audiences are more interested in special offers, the entertainment factor and exclusive information within advertising, says the report. For 45-54 year olds however, ads need to be more relevant and useful to make an impact. And, while money off particularly appeals to 18-35 year olds, with the economy expected to be slow, people of all ages are more likely to be looking for advertising that offers money off. In each case, and for the other age groups in the survey, consumers want online advertisers to understand their needs and devise their creative executions accordingly. 

Most respondents believed they had been exposed to the more ‘traditional' forms of online advertising, such as sponsored links, banners and emails and these ads were most likely to have generated click-throughs.

Every age group surveyed chose sponsored links and advertising within a page as the top two ad formats sparking their interest to click through to the advertisers' website.

The research found that newer forms of online advertising, with ads using sound and video, widgets, in-game advertising and free gifts are gaining ground proving.

In particular, says the report, gifts and branded applications online are especially effective with 18-24 year old respondents - 29% had seen and sometimes interacted with an ad from either Facebook or branded content across various other social networking sites, suggesting that these forms of advertising have the potential to become more mainstream.

Email advertising is particularly effective, finds the study, for those aged over 25. 34% of 25-34 year olds said they had seen and sometimes clicked on an ad from an email.

Sorcha Proctor, Research Manager for IAB UK says "The research has found that... consumers... highlighting (that) consumers want relevance, entertainment and value for their money, online... "

For more information on this proprietary study, please visit Lightspeed Research, part of the Kantar Group, here.