Display Advertisements Discrepancies and Deficiencies
Display
ads are everywhere on the Internet. Over 5.3 trillion display ads were
presented to U.S users in 2012. News, social networking, research sites, blogs, and even ecommerce websites may include some usage of banner advertisements.
Shockingly, the typical Internet user is presented 1,707 banner ads per month.
Nevertheless, do display
advertisements solicit a response from users and are display ads effective? I
asked my friends on my social network the following three questions about the
nature of display ads. For the purposes of my unscientific study, I focused on
banner ads exclusively. My prediction was an overwhelmingly negative response to
banner ads and I anticipated an unanimous consensuses against this form of
advertising.
12
of my social network friends responded with the following feedback:
- Do you think banner ads are effective? – All 12 responded no.
- Do you click on banner ads? – All 12 responded no.
- Are companies that use banner ads reputable? – 10 out of 12 responded no, with two maybe.
So if users do not trust or click
display ads, why do advertisers use this medium so frequently? The answer lies
between interacting with and recalling the contents of a display ad. Companies
gain exposure by implementing display ads on the web and this exposure may promote
recall. Thirty-five students from Wichita State University participated in the
study where students asked to recall any portion of the web page following a
series of tasks. The results from this study concluded that the recognition of
the banner advertisements was high. Half of the students recalled seeing banner
ads and many of the students recalled the names of the companies advertised.
Maybe this type of conclusion has
contributed to the proliferation of display ads on the Internet. The use of
display ads continues to increase. Between 2009 and 2012 the number of display
ads on the Internet increased by nearly 1 trillion.
To find an example of this theory, I
used Google’s archived website search engine called The Wayback Machine to look
at websites from years past. I compared the local news site The Lincoln Journal Star from 2004 to present day, to see if the number of display ads has
increased or decreased. In 2004, the site included 4 display ads on the home
page. In 2014, that number has increased to 9. In 2004 the ads were small and
unobtrusive; however the 2014 site has larger, more prominent ads.
Lincoln Journal Star - 2004
Lincoln Journal Star - 2014
As companies fight to obtain new
revenue streams, the use of display ads could very well continue into the
future, even despite their many deficiencies.
Fun
Statistics Regarding Banner Ads
Things
you are more likely to do than click a banner ad:
- Complete NAVY SEAL training
- Get a full house while playing poker
- Summit Mount Everest
- Birth twins
- Secure acceptance to MIT
- Survive a plane crash
Sound
off: Can you name a display ad that has left a lasting impact or has compelled
you to buy an item or service? Do you think the use of display ads will
continue in the future? How would you answer the banner ad survey?
I would have answered your informal survey with the following answers: yes, no, sometimes. I would say that banner ads are effective, while everyone who participated said no. I would say yes only because people recognize the ads and choose to ignore them which is what makes them ineffective. The ineffectiveness of banner ads I feel depends on what site you are on and what the user is doing. For example, if on journal star I am most likely trying to read local news where as if I were to be on Amazon.com for example shopping and see a banner ad for something else I might like, I may choose to click on the ad since I am in a shopping/buying mindset. Often times they are only effective because as you mentioned it is more of a way to get a customer acquainted or familiar with a brand, not necessarily to get them to take action as a result of seeing the banner ad.
ReplyDeleteStatistically, you are in the vast minority. Thanks for you thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you that display ads are not very effective. I think that this could be due to the fact that most of the ads are just tricks saying that you won a ton of free money, and when you click on it you get totally redirected. Plus, a lot of these ads just give you a virus. I believe that is why a lot of people stray away from clicking on any ads that they may see. It is crazy the amount of new display ads that we are exposed to every month, and the amount that total display ads goes up by every year is amazing. It seems that on some websites there are more annoying ads than the actual content you were looking for!
ReplyDeleteThe only display ads that I ever click on anymore are ads that Google Chrome displays of things that I have viewed from a previous website. Very good post!