PALO ALTO, CA – Infolinks, a company focused on improving digital advertising and studying consumer banner blindness, today announced the results of a study conducted in partnership with market research company EyeTrackShop. The study examines the issues of ad location, responsiveness and brand recall, and provides specific direction for how the digital media industry can tackle the detrimental problem of banner blindness.
“The simple fact is, display as we know it is broken,” said Infolinks CEO Dave Zinman. “Many in the industry have turned a blind eye to the issue. We analyzed the eye movements of online users in order to understand their reactions to ads and content at a fundamental level. These findings point to fixes the industry can easily employ today. What are we waiting for?”
Banner blindness is an industry-wide epidemic, driving click through and engagement rates down to an all-time low, resulting in billions of dollars wasted on ads that never get seen. Infolinks conducted this study as part of its continuing effort to seek solutions to this problem.
Study findings:
- Results clearly concluded that non-traditionally placed ads targeted to user intent were noticed more, seen more quickly and engaged consumers longer than standard display ad units.
- Non-traditionally placed ad units were seen 225 percent quicker than standard leaderboard ads at the top of the page.
- Alternative placements yielded higher results overall including awareness and engagement. In addition, time spent with these ad units increased by 100 percent compared to standard display placements.
- Sixty percent of respondents said they didn’t find traditional ad units relevant whereas 75 percent deemed ad units targeted to users’ real-time intent relevant to the page.
- Sixty percent of respondents said they found the unconventionally placed ads based on page content less disruptive than ads they typically encounter.
Based on the study conclusions, Infolinks makes the following recommendations to the industry to improve engagement:
- Placement Matters. Beat banner blindness by choosing non-traditional ad placements. Ads that appear where users are unaccustomed to seeing them gain more attention and engage more consumers than standard placements.
- Relevance Matters. Deliver ads with real time user intent in mind. Where possible, target the current interests of users instead of targeting their interests from last week or last month.
- Experience Matters. Publishers and advertisers must be respectful of the user’s purpose and preferences for their online experience, and try to serve ads that support, rather than disrupt, that purpose.
“This study confirms the ideals upon which we have built our business — that advertising should be about enhancing the user experience,” said Zinman. “This study makes it clear that ads that break out of the rut of traditional placement and are rooted in user intent can combat banner blindness and reverse declining consumer engagement.”
Methodology:
By presenting study participants with sample web pages featuring both standard ad units and Infolinks’ suite of ad units, Infolinks utilized EyeTrackShop’s patented biometric eye-tracking technology to analyze which areas on the page receive the most attention, how quickly those areas are noticed and to identify the characteristics of ads that receive the most user engagement. Participants also completed a questionnaire to gauge brand recall as well as overall perception of each ad unit.
For the complete study results, please visit http://www.infolinks.com/eyetracking-whitepaper.pdf.
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 third largest publisher marketplace in the world, analyzing more than one trillion words a month in real time and driving revenue for sites in 128 countries. Infolinks is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. Visit Infolinks at www.infolinks.com, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
