Brand-Name Sites Gain Recognition, No Overall Ad Value

It's no secret that brand-name publishers use their established positions to rationalize higher CPMs. Yet according to new research conducted by ad network VideoEgg and comScore, an ad's environment does not impact its value in the minds of consumers.

"A number of studies have been conducted analyzing behavioral metrics, brand lift and brand impact. But until now, there has been limited understanding of the interplay of ad units, engagement and different online environments," said Lesle Litton, comScore vice president.

To determine how different environments impact the performance of ad units, the research first compared the performance of ad units across brand-name sites, smaller contextually relevant and non-contextual sites.

On average, respondents were four times more familiar with brand-name sites, and rated those sites two times higher on design, usefulness and trust.

Remarkably, however, when controlling for advertiser and ad unit, there was no overall incremental value to branded sites.

For the study, VideoEgg and comScore controlled the site, content and ad exposure seen by some 14,000 participants. They worked with six major brands across a range of industries, including Alliance Releasing, Doritos, GE, Hyundai, Telus and Toshiba.

Respondents were shown a non-live site with an ad served in an environment where all other ad placements had a consistent PSA. Researchers then asked for feedback on the given site, evaluating whether they were aware of the site or had previously visited it, along with their attitudes toward the site design and utility. Once details on the site were determined, researchers asked a range of questions to evaluate the performance of the ad viewed.

The results found that while consumers are more familiar with brand-name sites -- and rate them more favorably on a number of site design measures -- overall, the type of site did not impact the performance of engaging ad units.

"It was interesting to see how exposure to online video ad units drove considerable gains in brand recall and perceptions, when compared to standard banners," added Litton.

Separately, the research also looked at the impact of different ad units and engagement on brand lift, comparing the performance of IAB banners, interstitials and VideoEgg AdFrames units.

The results found that VideoEgg AdFrame units were twice as effective in generating unaided and aided ad recall than standard IAB banners. In addition, engagement increases recall as well as key brand perceptions. First mention was six times higher among those who engaged with the AdFrames units versus standard banners, while aided recall was four times as high among engagers.

2 comments about "Brand-Name Sites Gain Recognition, No Overall Ad Value".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Jon Collins from Eyeblaster, March 16, 2010 at 11:52 p.m.

    This study seems a bit biased and does not relect data we have gathered on actual performance and not just brand mumbo jumbo. Dwell time shows that top tier publishers do perform much better than long tail publishers so long as the messaging is applicable to the audience.

  2. David Shor from Prove, March 20, 2010 at 7:13 p.m.

    As DSP's push us further toward performance-based pricing via traditional buying mechanisms (i.e. dynamic CPMs based on bids), the value of content in, for example, top-of-funnel content sites, will be based largely on how big advertisers attribute conversion value. Current last-click metrics punish big content sites, which tend to put people into funnels rather than late funnel "review" and shopping comparison sites which are much lower in the funnel. So it is a shame that great content found on great publisher brands is ultimately stuck because of a limitation of media attribution engines. I see those systems as the next big breakthrough after DSPs.

Next story loading loading..