Internet Access: Online Banner Ads as Effective as Television Ads in Building Brand Awareness, New Ipsos-ASI Research Confirms - Internet/Web/Online Service Information

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 22, 1999

Ipsos-ASI, the worldwide leader in advertising market research for both television and the Internet, Wednesday released a new research study indicating that online banner advertisements are as effective as television advertisements in their ability to significantly increase consumer awareness of brands.

According to the research, the recall level of an online banner ad is equivalent to that of a television ad when measured for immediate recall, the industry norm for online advertising. The data shows that 40% of the respondents who view a static online banner ad will remember it, as compared to 41% of those who view a 30-second television commercial. Marianne Foley, Senior Vice President of Ipsos-ASI Interactive, said: "This new study underscores the effectiveness of the Internet as an advertising medium, and demonstrates the value of online advertising to today's marketers. Given this research, we believe that more and more advertisers and agencies will take an active role in exploring the online medium and discovering the benefits to them." This is the first significant finding of a landmark research study analyzing the effectiveness of online banner advertising, and comparing their impact to traditional television advertising. Other important yardsticks, including persuasion and brand imagery, will be analyzed and reported in future months. Myer Berlow, AOL's Senior Vice President for Interactive Marketing, said: "Not only is this first major research study in which TV and online have been looked at using parallel methodology, it begins to answer one of the most frequently-asked questions among advertisers as to whether the online medium is an effective way to market their brands." Berlow continued: "While comparisons to other media are extremely important to the advertising community, we believe that online advertising is even more effective than television advertising using other effectiveness measurements. No other medium allows advertisers the opportunity to immediately capture the attention of active and engaged consumers; to provide them with more information about their product or service; and to complete transactions. This is one of online's real competitive strengths over print and television advertising, and one that cannot be duplicated in the 'off-line' world." Ipsos-ASI has been testing advertising in various media, and developing proven, effective testing models for more than thirty years. In addition to its television market research, which is widely accepted as the most trusted in the industry, the company has established itself as one of the nation's leading Interactive market research firms. To date, Ipsos-ASI researchers have conducted "independent" tests on more than 300 online ads. Among the more than 40 companies participating in this research study are many of the nation's leading marketers: Kraft, Barnes & Noble, Ralston-Purina, Prudential Insurance, The Gap, Godiva Chocolatier, Century 21 and Levi Strauss & Co. "What gives these findings potency is the enormous database of research that Ipsos-ASI and AOL have been aggressively building," said Mark Witzling, Director of Marketing, Purina Interactive, Ralston Purina Company. "It is giant leap forward for the entire advertising community -- something that needed to be done for a long time." About the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database This research is based on the mid-year results of the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online database, the first syndicated and most robust online research database in existence today. Ipsos-ASI has been collaborating with Internet online leader America Online on the development of the project since June 1998. Similar to the well-known television research database launched by Ipsos-ASI more than thirty years ago, the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database will allow advertisers the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of banner ads against important benchmark research. Using the Online Database, advertisers will be able to measure against comparative norms the creative execution, as well as recall and persuasion levels of their online banner ads before introducing the ads to consumers. Marianne Foley said: "Although hundreds of independent tests have been conducted by Ipsos-ASI and other market research firms on a variety of online advertising topics, no known single database of information exists against which interactive marketers can test the effectiveness of their ads. This makes the AOL/Ipsos-ASI Online Database one of the most valuable advertising measurement tools available today." To date, Ipsos-ASI researchers have tested more than 45 banner ads on approximately 7,000 randomly recruited consumers in various content and chat areas of the AOL service and AOL.COM. Before May 1999, approximately 200 banner ads will be tested with approximately 30,000 AOL and AOL.COM users, with all results archived by Ipsos-ASI in a single database for continued future research and analysis. Methodology To properly test and analyze consumers' responses to ads online and on television, Ipsos-ASI carefully adapted the accepted television testing model for the online world. The invitation used to solicit participation in the online test is identical to the invitation used to solicit participation in the television test. In both cases, the viewer/user is asked to participate in a test to evaluate programming/content, with no reference being made to the evaluation of advertising. Further, both tests are done in live environments, and identical questions are asked concerning claimed recall of the branded advertisement, message communication effectiveness, product purchase intent, and brand imagery. In both cases, respondents were recruited randomly: o For the television advertising effectiveness testing, recruitment takes place via phone through random digit dialing (RDD). Respondents agreeing to participate are invited to view a live television program on a cable channel that is not currently used in their geographic area. The test advertisements are embedded in the commercial breaks within the programming. The invitation asks the respondent to participate in a project to evaluate television program content, with no reference being made to evaluating advertising. Twenty-four hours after the respondent views the television program, they are again contacted by telephone to participate in a survey designed to capture recall, perceptions and attitudes toward the program content and the advertising within that content. o For the online advertising effectiveness testing, recruitment takes place within AOL's Opinion Place area. Recruits are first screened to ensure their demographic profile is consistent with that of the standard AOL user. Those qualifying are then provided with an AOL Keyword and are invited to visit a specific AOL area to evaluate the content of that area. The specific AOL area is randomly selected from those being tested. Again, no reference is made to the evaluation of advertising. To effectively guarantee exposure to the banner ad, the ad is embedded in the first page of the online content in a live test environment. After visiting the specified area, the respondent immediately returns to the survey using another AOL Keyword, where they are served and are asked to complete a 10-15 minute questionnaire. The demographic profile of the television ad database respondents and the online respondents are comparable. Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, Ipsos-ASI is one of the largest and longest- established market research organizations in the country specializing in advertising research. Founded more than 30 years ago, ASI has remained in the vanguard of advertising research by continuously pioneering the development of new and innovative methodologies for measuring and evaluating audience response.