Ad Visibility Report demonstrates correlation between Ad Placement & Performance.

Casale Media Inc. published a research brief that quantifies the effects of page positioning, view order and frequency of online ads. “The Link Between Ad Placement & Performance,” is a June 2011 study that analyzed nearly two billion ad impressions in the first quarter of 2011 (January to March) over the Casale Media advertising network, MediaNet.

Although much of the online advertising industry is predicated on the notion that ad impressions are all equal, the Casale Media research brief confirms the hypothesis that certain impressions are generally more effective, and therefore more valuable and less wasteful of ad spend, than others. The report found that:

– Above-the-fold is a lot more effective: Ads displayed within the first screen of a user’s browser window were almost seven times more effective at generating a click-thru than ads delivered below-the-fold.

– Banner blindness occurs fast: Users are three to four times more likely to act on an ad if it is the first or second one they see during their session. Ad effectiveness plummets as the user progresses through their online viewing.

– Repetition works…to an extent: Ads shown five times or more to a user were 12-14 times more effective than ads shown less than five times. However, marketers need to apply frequency capping to prevent oversaturation.

“Working with thousands of premium publishers to monetize their content, we have deep insight into what ads are effective and how they can be optimized to better engage web users,” said Joe Casale, CEO of Casale Media. “Our ad visibility research shows that all ad impressions are not created equal and that relying on singular indicators such as reach or hyper-targeting, does not tell you the full story. Vigilance on the part of marketing managers and accountability from their advertising partners are vital to executing a successful campaign.”

The report indicates that advertisers focused on brand penetration with consumers should consider a number of factors when considering the environments in which their ads will be running. Casale Media also found that campaigns often suffocate from reduced share of voice on cluttered Web pages, are ignored when surrounding engaging content like photo galleries and may not even be seen by their audience when displayed on a Web site that inflates impressions through auto-refresh mechanisms.

All impressions sampled during the research period went to performance-based campaigns running Flash-based creative. All creative clicked through to simple, one-step actions (e.g. newsletter sign-ups). Click and action counts were recorded by Optimax, Casale Media’s proprietary ad serving technology.

To download report CLICK on link below;
http://casalemedia.com/files/Casale-Ad-Visibility-Report-FINAL.pdf>