Who Clicks Web Ads Anyway?
Well, if this new survey is to be believed - poor unemployed gamblers with nothing better to do.
The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.
And so much for “reinforcing the brand”
Further preliminary Starcom data suggests no correlation between display ad clicks and brand metrics, and show no connection between measured attitude towards a brand and the number of times an ad for that brand was clicked. The research presentation suggests that when digital campaigns have a branding objective, optimizing for high click rates does not necessarily improve campaign performance.
Dang! Wonder if all those “online advertising experts” preaching the art of click are gonna have to find a new job?
(Mebbe they’re already some of the heavy clickers hitting those career service sites.)
Related Posts:
Why I’m Not A Big Fan of Google Ads
Marketing is Broken - And I’m Thrilled!
Read More: Esther Dyson, Release 0.9, Don’t Cry For Me MicroHoogle! “The big news is already old news. It’s not that traditional online advertising will go away, but its profitability will suffer as it becomes diminishing-returns efficient.”
Photo credit: cobalt123, Flickr
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, Web advertising, Web ads, Google ads, display ad clicks, emarketing
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February 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
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