• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, July 27, 2003

I Like It, And I Like What They Say

The Online Publishers Association recently announced that the results of the second phase of its audience affinity study, conducted by comScore Networks, found that site affinity (the bond between a visitor and the site) is a greater driver of key brand metrics than frequency of ad exposure. In addition, the study concluded that in most cases, a high frequency of exposure against a high affinity visitor was the best combination for advertising effectiveness.

Prior OPA research established that the attitudinal measures that have the greatest influence on a visitor's predisposition to respond favorably toward advertising on the site are:

• likelihood to recommend the site to a friend
• satisfaction with site content
• whether or not the site is considered to be a "favorite" within its category.

The latest findings revealed that 38 percent of High Affinity visitors indicated that they were very or somewhat likely to buy the advertised brand in the next three months, as opposed to only 32% of Low/Medium affinity users. These results are significant at the 95% confidence level.

The findings also revealed that site affinity positively impacts aided advertising recall, with 12% of High Affinity visitors recalling online ads for the test brands versus only 7% of Low/Medium Affinity visitors. High frequency of exposure to High Affinity users was also the best combination for increasing aided recall of the specific ads tested.

"This research proves that the sites on which advertising appears significantly impact how that advertising performs," said Michael Zimbalist, executive director of the Online Publishers Association. "This research shows that the media halo effect works with online advertising, as well, and that advertisers who target sites that attract loyal, high affinity audiences will, indeed, see superior results."

The PDF file can be found here.