Which online ads work best

Advertising.com conducted a study into online ad performance by frequency of impression, creative size and format, daypart and industry category, as measured across Advertising.com's network of over 1,900 websites.

"With access to over 94 million unique visitors and the ability to serve 10 billion impressions a month, we were able to generate significant insight regarding online consumer behavior and interactive marketing," said Scott Ferber, chief executive officer of Advertising.com. "Our performance-driven findings go beyond the simple measurement of clicks to reveal the most effective techniques for extracting maximum revenue per impression served."

Optimal impression frequency

Data obtained from 16 million impressions served over the course of three weeks indicated that maximum revenue was achieved between one and five impressions. Revenue per impression dropped significantly after the 20th impression, but frequencies from the 6-20th impression maintained significant performance.

Optimal creative size

Testing of over 15 million users served more than 168 million impressions during a one-week period showed that 728x90 banners had a lower conversion rate than standard 468x60 banners, while pop-ups and skyscrapers had higher conversion rates. Pop-ups were 13 times more effective in generating clicks and conversions than the standard banners.

Click-Through Index (to full banner 468x60) by Format

Rich media versus non-rich media creative performance

Employing the same data parameters as were used in determining optimal creative size, research indicated that rich media is not effective in generating clicks when compared to non-rich media. However, rich media is approximately four times more effective in generating conversions.

Optimal ad performance by daypart

Analysis of approximately 11,000 ad and site combinations demonstrated that, for the most part, advertisers achieve peak performance during work hours - with the highest performance occurring around noon. However, results indicated that in each hour there are banners that perform better than average or worse than average. For example, one advertiser achieved peak performance between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., while an ad for another advertiser showed peak performance between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Performance by industry category

A small selection of industries represented on the Advertising.com network, including telecommunications, retail, media, financial, entertainment and administrative/educational/support services industries, were tested for performance among 15 million users. Without adjusting for industry-specific influences, such as varying definitions and levels of conversion, conversion and click-thru rates were highest for the media industry. The retail and telecommunications industries had the lowest click-thru rates, while the retail and entertainment industries had the lowest conversion rates.

This research was conducted using Advertising.com data collected over select time periods or site/ad categories and was presented at the Internet World Essentials conference in San Jose on April 15, 2003.