• by Shankar Gupta , April 20, 2006

More than one in five U.S. adults, or 22 percent, say the Internet is the most effective way to grab their attention about a product or service, according to a report released Wednesday by Burst Media.

But TV retained its prominence as the most attention-grabbing ad medium, with 50 percent of U.S. adults reporting that the tube captures their interest most effectively. The report, based on a March survey of 3,700 adult Web users, also found that magazines, newspapers and radio lagged behind both the Internet and TV, with 12 percent, 10 percent, and 6 percent, respectively.

Though respondents gave Web ads high ratings for capturing awareness, they were less than impressed with the quality of such ads. About 40 percent of respondents said that the online campaigns they could recall used recycled versions of ads that had appeared elsewhere. Twenty-three percent of respondents said online campaigns were "worse" than those seen in other media. However, among the 22 percent of adults who said that the Internet was the most affective at grabbing their attention, perceptions of ad campaigns were much better, with 57.5 percent describing the online campaigns they could recall as "cutting-edge."

The study also found that the Web far outpaces television as a primary source for information about products and services, with 57 percent of respondents saying that the Net is where they turn first to research products they might purchase.