• by Masha Geller , May 28, 2003

Pop-ups work in moderation, rich media doesn't affect click-throughs but does wonders for conversions, and a generalized approach to online dayparts is not the way to go. That's according to Advertising.com, which yesterday released a research study of online consumer behavior and interactive marketing, which sheds some light on online ad performance by frequency of impression, creative size and format, daypart and industry category.

The findings are based on Advertising.com's network of about 1,900 websites and aimed primarily at Advertising.com clients, as company COO Gar Richlin said, but can be well applied to the industry in general.

The frequency finding was particularly important for Advertising.com, which operates on a performance-based model. Data obtained from 16 million impressions served over the course of three weeks indicated that maximum revenue was achieved between one and five impressions. Revenue per impression dropped significantly after the 20th impression, but frequencies from the 6-20th impression maintained significant performance.

"We knew it intuitively," Richlin said, "but it's nice to have confirmation. It shows us that advertisers should think of frequency capping more aggressively than in the past."

Another finding of the study says that testing of over 15 million users served more than 168 million impressions during a one-week period showed that 728x90 banners had a lower conversion rate than standard 468x60 banners, while pop-ups and skyscrapers had higher conversion rates. Advertising.com found that pop-ups were 13 times more effective in generating clicks and conversions than the standard banners. Employing the same data parameters as were used in determining optimal creative size, research indicated that rich media is not effective in generating clicks when compared to non-rich media. However, rich media is approximately four times more effective in generating conversions.

The pop-up finding is the most controversial, Richlin admitted, but "Everything we've seen tells us that pops work,' he said. As with everything too much of a good thing is not the way to go, but the finding is important nevertheless.

"Certain things obviously don't work as well as the traditional 468x60," Richlin said, but the research shows that "banners have a place, as do pop-ups, if they're managed properly."

Also, analysis of approximately 11,000 ad and site combinations demonstrated that, for the most part, advertisers achieve peak performance during work hours -- with the highest performance occurring around noon. However, results indicated that in each hour there are banners that perform better than average or worse than average. For example, one advertiser achieved peak performance between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., while an ad for another advertiser showed peak performance between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Finally, a small selection of industries represented on the Advertising.com network, including telecommunications, retail, media, financial, entertainment and administrative/educational/support services industries, were tested for performance among 15 million users. Without adjusting for industry-specific influences, such as varying definitions and levels of conversion, conversion and click-thru rates were highest for the media industry. The retail and telecommunications industries had the lowest click-thru rates, while the retail and entertainment industries had the lowest conversion rates.