CTR and conversion). In an iMediaConnection interview with ING Direct VP of
Marketing, Jurie Pieterse, the capability to revise creative is highlighted:Another lesson we learned is the importance of creative. It’s critical to invest in developing
various creative executions to test them for best performance and constantly introduce
new challengers to the top performers. We’ve also learned there’s no single top creative
unit – different creative executions and sizes perform differently from publisher to publisher.
Source: iMediaConnection (2003)Measurement of interactive ad effectiveness
Figure 8.18 summarises the different terms used for measuring banner ad effectiveness.
Each time an advertisement is viewed is referred to as an advertisement or ad impression.
‘Page impressions’ and ‘page views’ are other terms used. Since some people may view
the advertisement more than one time, marketers are also interested in the reach, which
is the number of unique individuals who view the advertisement. This will naturally be
a smaller figure than that for ad impressions. Cost of ads is typically based on CPMor
cost per thousand (mille) ad impressions as with other media. However, the popularity of
CPC search advertising and CPA affiliate deals mean that these are options too.
There is much discussion about how many impressions of an advertisement an indi-
vidual has to see for it to be effective. Novak and Hoffman (1997) note that for
traditional media it is thought that fewer than three exposures will not give adequate
recall. For new media, because of the greater intensity of viewing a computer screen,
recall seems to be better with a smaller number of advertisements compared with old
media. The technical term for adequate recall is ‘effective frequency’.
When a user clicks on the advertisement, he or she will normally be directed to fur-
ther information, viewing of which will result in a marketing outcome. Usually the user
will be directed through to part of the corporate web site that will have been set up espe-
cially to deal with the response from the advertisement. When a user clicks on an
advertisement immediately this is known as a ‘clickthrough’, but adserving systems
(using cookies) also measure viewthroughwhich indicates when a user views an ad and
subsequently visits a web site within a defined period such as 30 days. This increases
overall response, but it should be borne in mind that users may have visited the site in
response to other stimuli.Interactive ad targeting options
Online ads can be targeted through placing ads:1 On a particular type of site (or part of site)which has a specific visitor profile or type of
content. So a car manufacturer can place ads on the home page of Handbag.com to
appeal to a young female audience. A financial services provider can advertise in the
money section of the site to target those interested in these products. To reach large
mass-market audiences, advertisers can place an ad on a large portal home page such
as MSN which has millions of visitors each day (sometimes known as a ‘road-block’ if
they take all ad inventory).
2 To target a registered user’s profile. A business software provider could advertise on the
FT to target registrants’ profiles such as finance directors or IT managers.
3 At a particular time of day or week.4 INTERACTIVE ADVERTISINGPage and ad
impressions and
reach
One page impression
occurs when a member
of the audience views a
web page. One ad
impression occurs
when a person views an
advertisement placed
on the web page. Reach
defines the number of
unique individuals who
view an advertisement.
CPM (cost per
thousand)
The cost of placing an
ad viewed by 1000
people.
Effective frequency
The number of
exposures or ad
impressions
(frequency) required for
an advertisement to
become effective.
Clickthrough and
clickthrough rate
A clickthrough (ad
click) occurs each time
a user clicks on a
banner advertisement
with the mouse to
direct them to a web
page that contains
further information.
The clickthrough rate is
expressed as a
percentage of total ad
impressions, and refers
to the proportion of
users viewing an
advertisement who
click on it. It is
calculated as the
number of
clickthroughs divided
by the number of ad
impressions.
Viewthrough
A viewthrough indicates
when a user views an
ad and subsequently
visits a web site.