Advertisers and Publishers Take Note: Only 14% of Consumers Remember the Last Ad They Saw; Just 2.8% Thought the Ad Was Relevant
PALO ALTO, CA – Infolinks, a global leader in monetizing digital advertising for publishers, brands and their agencies, released the results of its first proprietary study examining the industry challenge of “banner blindness.” Results showed that 14% of respondents recalled the last display ad they saw and the company or product it promoted. Even with today’s sophisticated targeting technology, relevance remains a key challenge with only 2.8% of respondents stating that they thought the ad they saw was relevant to them.
The study was conducted in December 2012 and surveyed US-based consumers from all genders, ages, income and education levels. Additional results show:
- Half of the users never click on online ads while 35% click on less than 5 ads a month.
- Among online ad viewers, 75% saw the ad on their computer while the remaining 25% saw the ad on their phone or tablet.
“The industry needs to take steps to make online advertising more impactful while not interrupting the user experience,” said Infolinks CEO Dave Zinman. “It’s well known that banner ads do not perform well and too much money is wasted on impressions that no one notices. Why are we satisfied with .1% clickthrough rates? No other industry would settle for that benchmark. We need to collaborate on a widespread solution.”
According to an article in AdWeek, publishers like ESPN are looking for ways to address banner blindness with new engaging ad formats including wide-screen HD video and dynamic wallpaper. In addition, one of Mashable’s “5 Marketing Predictions for 2013” is that brands and publishers are going to “re-think banner ads.”
Marketers and publishers need to take note of banner blindness as an industry plague and take some necessary steps to improve the ecosystem:
1) When creating ad space, choose non-traditional and memorable locations for increased user recall.
2) Avoid being irrelevant and ignored: Don’t deliver ads without first identifying user intent.
3) Decrease clutter: Serve fewer ads. Publishers should reduce clutter on their pages and advertisers will willingly pay more for premium, uncluttered ad experiences.
In related news, Infolinks has launched a new community site to study the growing problem of consumer banner blindness and the broken display advertising marketplace. Infolinks will be studying the psychology of banner blindness throughout the year and welcomes participation from the industry. The company is accepting contributed articles and blog posts from technology companies, publishers, advertising agencies and brand marketers. Interested parties may visit www.bannerblindness.org or send an email to info@bannerblindness.org.
About Infolinks
Infolinks is a global advertising company that makes sense of digital advertising for publishers, agencies and brands. Its In3 platform offers a suite of intent-based advertising products, including InFrame, InSearch, InTag and InText. The products overcome banner blindness to create new revenue opportunities for publishers, while improving results for advertisers. In3 powers the fourth largest publisher marketplace in the world, analyzing over one trillion words a month in real time and driving revenue for over 100,000 sites in 128 countries. Infolinks is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA with R&D out of Tel Aviv, Israel. Visit Infolinks at www.infolinks.com, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
