NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Mass Medium? Targeting?
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Mass Medium? Targeting?
David Graham (dgraham_at_webrep.net)
Thu, 25 Jun 1998 11:05:35 -0700
Marlena Schwarz wrote:
>What I think is going on with declining click-through is
>consumers are tired of the gimmicky banners that end up
>disappointing the user once s/he clicks on it. The
>gratuitous use of "FREE", obnoxious colors and other silly
>techniques that used to work are over as click-through
>boosters. People are tuning out.
The fact that the novelty of the Internet (and Internet advertising) is
wearing off is almost certainly a reason for declining click rates. But
there are other important factors that may also play a major role:
Counting. It seems that no one in the industry can agree on this issue.
With no standard method for counting in place, comparing a 2% click two
years ago with a 1% click now is very difficult. It certainly makes little
sense to compare this information across different studies and in some
cases is not even reliable coming from the same source. Ad management
software companies are paying closer attention to cached impressions, and
are still battling over where in the "ad delivery process" one should count
an impression. Changes in this arena over the past two years have
certainly affected the click rates of individual sites and make comparisons
over time less reliable.
Unique users. Two years ago, the Web was even more disorganized and all of
its users were relatively new. Back then, the average surfer was likely to
visit hundreds of sites each month in an effort to make some sense out of
the confusion. Although it may not seem like it at times, the Web is much
cleaner today than it was in 1996. Many of the major players have been
established and new users enter the medium with Web brands already in
place. As things continue to shake out, users both old and new will
develop affinity with a few sites of interest at a quicker rate. There
will continue to be less aimless surfing and visitors will be more involved
with the content, seeing more and more of the same banners. The fact that
new Web users will develop affinity faster could push click rates down even
further.
If rich media is indeed the future of Web advertising, then comparing
response across time will be even more difficult. An enliven banner, for
instance, can engage a user without a traditional click through. How many
clicks is a 2 minute game inside a Java banner worth? As Internet
advertising matures, it will be even harder to determine if marketing in
this new medium is becoming increasingly more or less effective.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Graham (mailto:dgraham_at_webrep.net)
WebRep, LLC.
1850 Union St., Suite 1149
San Francisco, CA 94123
TEL (415) 772-3645
Client List: http://www.webrep.net/Pages/list.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's Online Advertising Discussion List sponsor:
24/7 Media
"We chose 24/7 Media because of their proven
success selling online advertising."
-- Howard Lefkowitz, VP Business Development, EarthLink Network
24/7 Media -- Always Serving You
http://www.247media.com/join.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
Online Advertising Discussion List To Unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE
http://www.o-a.com/ to online-ads-request_at_o-a.com
