In the No Shit Sherlock category, Adblock Plus is out with a study that finds “loud” online ads such as flash-like or animated ads result in 36% lower ad recall and a 76% decline in brand opinion.
The research study was conducted by analyzing eye movements of 1,200 research participants in North America and Europe as they viewed a set of test websites. Researchers measured which ads were viewed, how quickly ads were noticed on the page, and how much time viewers spent on each ad. Follow-up survey questions measured ad recall, brand perceptions, and other descriptive information about various ad types.
Among the key findings of the international research:
– Static ads are 300 percent more likely to be rated “easy to understand” than jumpy animated ads
– Flashy animated ads are 200 percent more likely to be considered “dated”
– Ads placed on clutter-free web pages are nearly 200 percent more likely to be seen, and are noticed 300 percent faster
– Participants’ opinion of the advertised brand was 76 percent more likely to be negative after viewing an animated ad versus a static ad
– Ad Recall falls 36 percent when ads are presented on a cluttered website
– Ads are more likeable when presented on an clutter-free website; viewers reported 129 percent higher likeability scores for ads on clean sites versus the exact same ads when presented on a cluttered site
– Likelihood to click (Click Through Rate) was actually lower for attention-grabbing blinking ads than for clean, static ads (26 percent very/somewhat likely for animated versus 31 percent very/somewhat likely for static)
Others have come to the same conclusion. Then again, none of this really matters, right? After all you aren’t actually using banners anymore are you?
