A user-centered approach to display advertising—one that is sensitive to how today’s users actually engage with traditional and multimedia ads—can lead to significantly higher recall.

1. Display advertising:
a user–centered
approach
By: Dan Hou, Senior Product Strategist and Aaron Shapiro, Partner | June 15, 2010
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2. Summary.
A user-centered approach to display advertising— Research Methodology: Key Findings:
one that is sensitive to how today’s users actually Our research team conducted one-on-one • Positioning ads too far above the fold often
engage with traditional and multimedia ads— surveys with 60 casual Internet users ages 18 reduces the amount of time the ad is visible.
can lead to significantly higher recall. This is to 45 to better understand how users approach
particularly true for new formats such as video multimedia and banner ads. • Relevance is the strongest driver of ad recall.
pre-roll, video overlay, push-down banners and
other interruptive ads. Publishers and advertisers Users were asked to complete various tasks that • Heavy ad repetition results in unaided ad
are increasingly relying on these formats after demonstrated their daily Internet routines over a recall.
users learned to ignore static banner ads. But 45-minute period. Tasks included browsing news
traditional banner ads can still be memorable headlines and video clips, finding the latest sports • Interruptive advertising improves recall, but at
if carefully tailored to trends in user behavior. results, booking a flight for vacation, selecting the expense of the user experience.
Regardless of format, a user-centered approach a restaurant for dinner, choosing a movie and
to display advertising efforts is required if ROI is showtime, researching consumer electronics, • Video pre-roll performs better than overlay.
to be maximized. and watching video content that a friend
recommended. We interviewed the participants • Users are developing behaviors to ignore
about ad recall following this period of use. video ads.

3. The Value of Above-the-Fold Ad Placement
is Overrated
Customarily, ads placed higher on the page
command greater cost per thousand impressions
(CPMs) due to the assumption of greater visibility.
However, a user’s target content is often located
below the fold, and that motivates users to scroll
away from the leaderboard.
Fold
For example on MovieFone.com, a site frequented
during our study, showtimes are located below
the fold. As a result, users scrolled down quickly,
sometimes even before the above-the-fold ad fully
loaded.
Obviously for a display ad to even have a chance
at making an impression on a user, the user has
to see it. Therefore, a smaller ad placed further
down the page adjacent to desired content could
perform better than a larger ad that’s above the
fold and closer to the global navigation.
Relevance Powers Ad Recall
The vast majority of directly and indirectly recalled
ads were ones that were relevant to the user’s
interests.
In one instance, a BMW ad consisting of synced
display and pre-roll ads left no impression on
nearly all users who saw it. However one user,
a self-professed car lover, was able to recall the
Figure 1: Content position below the fold particular advertisement, the brand and the exact
car model featured.
This was observed again involving a banner ad
for video game “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2”
on YouTube’s homepage. The only person who
recalled seeing the ad was a 19-year-old male
who frequently played video games. He was
not only able to recall the creative and layout of
the advertisement, but also the specific game
featured in the ad. Relevance helps users notice
an ad and drives home the brand and the brand’s
message.
Size, on the other hand, doesn’t power recall. The
“Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2” video game ad
occupied a full 1/3 of the space above the fold
(Figure 2), but was ignored by 11 out of 12 users
Figure 2: YouTube “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” masthead
who came upon it.

4. Heavy Repetition Pays Dividends
Repetition strongly influences recall. Banner
ads that are perceived to be ubiquitous and
Figure 3
unchanged over a long period of time maintain
user mindshare. In exit interviews, people recalled
Netflix and Classmates.com ads, but neither recall rates by ad format
was displayed during the course of the study. It
50%
is therefore evident that once a high threshold of
impressions is met, advertisers achieve unaided
display ad recall.
41%
Interruptive Ads Have High Recall, but Can 40%
Backfire
Interruptive ads such as pop-ups and full-screen
overlays make lasting impressions on users, but
the impression tends to be a bad one. Nearly 30% 30%
half of the respondents directly or indirectly
recalled interruptive ads, making the format the
most recalled type in our study (Figure 3). But
it was also vehemently disliked. The majority of
participants expressed annoyance and frustration
19% 20%
when discussing interruptive ads.
“They are annoying. Very annoying. Those full
ads…. I don’t mind banner and sidebars, but don’t 10%
make me stop and click and close a window to
get to where I’m going. I don’t like that extra click.”
–Allyson, 34 2.2%
0%
“F**k!” -- Sean, 26, in response to JVC overlay on
Static Interruptive Overlay Pre-Roll
CNET Banner

5. recall rates for pre-roll
recall rates for pre-roll recall rates
Video Overlay Recall is Good,
but Pre–Roll is Better
Video overlay and pre-roll ads stood out as
effective ad formats over the course of the study.
Both were dramatically more memorable to users
than typical banner ads. However, pre-roll was the
clear winner. It was significantly more effective in
terms of brand and message recall.
recall rates for video overlay
recall rates for pre-roll recall rates for video overlay

6. Users are Learning to Ignore Video Ads What to Do?
Banner blindness is already a well-documented When designing a marketing plan, advertisers
phenomenon. But users are developing video ad should:
blindness now too. Some users in the study were
observed avoiding video advertisements similar to • Ensure that ad placements are close to
the way one would avoid television commercials. meaningful content, rather than simply being
When pre-roll ads ran, users would shift their above the fold.
attention to other content on the page, completely
scroll away from the video or direct their attention • Implement a behavioral targeting solution
to another browser window. Audio cues let them across all of a publisher’s properties.
know when the ad was over.
• When considering implementing an
Overlay ads, meanwhile, are getting the pop-up interruptive marketing effort, carefully weigh the
treatment. A few users reflexively closed the value of brand awareness against the cost to
overlay within a second or two of it popping up, the brand’s goodwill.
never really observing the contents of the ad.
• Produce pre-roll or overlay video ads. The
“I usually have other pages open at the same higher production costs can be balanced with
time; I’ll tweet while I’m waiting for the ad to higher recall.
finish.” – Lisa, 29
• Continue to experiment with new, innovative
“As soon as [the ad] went over what I was reading, ad placements to stay ahead of ever-evolving
I switched to the next tab. I’ll flip back when I user avoidance behaviors.
figure it’s over.” –Mary, 49

7. Appendix.
Definition of Key Terms
The following terms are used throughout this document with specific meanings:
Display Ads: This category includes static and Video Pre-Roll: This category includes video ads
animated banner ads in a variety of placements that played before, during or after an online video.
and sizes. Text ads are not included in this The lengths ranged from 5-30 seconds.
category and were not considered during this
study. Direct Recall: A user was able to remember
specific brand and/or messaging aspects of an
Interruptive Ads: This category includes pop- advertisement.
ups that open in a new window, interstitials and
large pushdown ads. Indirect Recall: The user only had a vague
recollection of general ad characteristics. This
Video Overlay Ads: This category includes ads data is still relevant and important to capture
that overlay an online video. The size and specific because indirect recall would still influence
format varies, but most could be closed at the purchase decisions in a shopping environment
user’s discretion. where there are visual brand cues.

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