By Adam Bernard
Billions have been spent on Internet ads in the last few years. Static banners, rich media banners, interstitials, SUPERSTITIALs, buttons, and everyone is confused about which ones
to use. Do Internet surfers even notice online ads anymore? A recent study shows that people do notice, but it depends on a lot of factors.
Stanford University and Poynter Research conducted the
study independent of the advertising industry, mounting eye-tracking headgear on study participants to see where their eyes focused while looking at online news sites and, ,more importantly, when, and
for how long, people looked at ads.
The results showed that people's eyes initially went straight to the text ignoring graphics and ads. However, people eventually ended up looking at 64% of
photo images and 45% of the banners, with their eyes focused on each banner for an average of one second.
This means banners are being seen, and seen by nearly half the web's surfers. Poynter
Research Associate Andrew DeVigal said, "One of the things that we did find surprising was that banner ads had some high expression. People say they don't look, but what people say and do are
different. 45% of the banner ads had one fixation, which is enough for an impression."
Interestingly though, DeVigal said, "It's a hit and miss as to when that fixation would occur."
For that
reason, DeVigal says that it's very important for advertisers to put their brand on every cell of their animation, so people are sure to know what company is being advertised, no matter when they look
up.
Another piece of advice DeVigal had for advertisers was, "A little more product focus would be helpful. Tell about a sale, rather than just the store. I think a sale would catch a lot of
people, it would be a lot more compelling than a catch phrase. Date targeted ads would also be good."
The study also found that people do, contrary to previous belief, scroll down web pages. Over
half the people in the study (56%) scrolled down and continued to read news stories, which, researchers say, means placing an ad "below the fold" doesn't automatically mean it won't get noticed.
In fact, according to DeVigal, your ad may get noticed more if it's at the bottom. "On a story level, I would say that the area they'd see is the bottom of the story," he said. "When people click on a
story they want to read the story. Even if they don't read it all, they'll scan it. Also, once they finish the story, their attention is less focused, and are trying to figure out they want to do
next."
- Adam Bernard may be reached at AdamBernard@mediapost.com