• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 7, 2011

Consciously or not, consumers spend 25% more time fixating on ads that are personally relevant to them. That's according to a new study conducted by Yahoo and Innerscope Research, which examined the emotional and cognitive responses to online ads using biometric and eye-tracking measures.

"This research ... sheds light on the nuances of when and why marketers should use behavioral [versus] contextual targeting or both," said Lauren Weinberg, Yahoo's senior director of strategic insights and research.

"If there is one thing the study makes exceedingly clear, it is that the combination of contextual and personal relevance is much greater than the sum of its parts," Weinberg added. "By leveraging both methods of targeting simultaneously, advertisers assure that their message resonates emotionally and will be remembered."

When viewing personally relevant ads, participants' pupil dilation increased by 27%, which is a strong indicator of increased cognition of the ad. That means people are processing the key messages to a greater extent.

Within a lab environment, 60 participants were presented with 12 different "Yahoo content" plus "display ad" exposure scenarios, totaling 720 different exposure scenarios.

When viewing contextually relevant ads, time to first fixation increased by 15%. This, according to Yahoo, increased the chances that the ad would be stored in long-term memory and ultimately lead to higher recall. What's more, contextually relevant ads elicit an emotional response that is almost twice as high as those without.

When an ad has both contextual and personal relevance, its impact is even more powerful, producing a stronger emotional response than either condition alone. In this case, pupil dilation increased by an unprecedented 40%, indicating an impressively high level of cognition of the ad.

Each targeting technique delivers a unique value to the experience of online display advertising -- thereby delivering great value for both consumer and advertiser, according to Yahoo. By leveraging both methods of targeting together, advertisers can maximize their ad's emotional and cognitive engagement.

Biometric measures are automatic human responses, such as heart rate, skin conductance, respiration, kinesthetic differences, and eye tracking.