An Advertising Effectiveness study of Valentine's Day homepage ads on Yahoo.com, MSN.com and AOL.com by advertisers ProFlowers and 1-800-Flowers.com.

1. Advertising Effectiveness on Publisher Websites:
A TNS Compete™ Case Study of Valentine’s Day
Ad Takeovers on Portal Homepages
Ad T k P t lH
March 23, 2009
,
Copyright 2009 Compete, a division of TNS Media. All Rights Reserved

2. Table of Contents
Purpose of Study & Methodology
•
Study Analysis
•
Key Findings
•
Compete Team Contact Info
Compete Team Contact Info
•
Appendix
•

3. Study Purpose & Methodology
Study Objectives
To develop clickstream‐driven insights into the consumer impact of Valentine’s Day homepage takeover advertising on
major portals. Specifically, the study will:
– Examine consumers exposed to the ads (and their associated clickthrough) compared with a control group
p ( g) p gp
of consumers not exposed to the campaign
– Quantify the effectiveness at building shopper consideration and purchase
Methodology
Compete analyzed clickstream data from its community of 2 million U.S. internet users
From its master data set, Compete identified 2 groups of Portal Homepage consumers for comparison:
1) Exposed to Valentine’s Day advertising (visited a portal homepage on a takeover day, between February 9 ‐
13, 2009)
2) Control ‐ i it d
2) C t l visited a portal homepage on a non‐takeover day between February 9 ‐ 13 2009 (did t i it d i
t lh tk d bt Fb 9 13, 2009 (did not visit during
exposed dates)
Activity Timeframes Measured
1) Same Day Performed on the same day as visiting a portal homepage (High probability of ad impression)
1) Same Day – Performed on the same day as visiting a portal homepage (High probability of ad impression)
2) Thru Feb 13th – Total campaign effect. Includes Same Day as well as Lagged activities thru Feb 13th
Sites
1) Advertisers included ProFlowers.com and 1‐800‐Flowers.com
)
2) Portal Homepages included Yahoo.com, AOL.com and MSN.com

4. Study Purpose & Methodology Continued
Exposure to Valentine’s Day
Ad on Portal Homepage
Lagged Actions
Generic Search
Queries (flower‐
shopping related)
Branded Search
Queries
Direct Action
Visited the Visited a
Advertiser’s Site Competitive Site

5. Study Analysis
Study Analysis
Specific Metrics in this Section Include:
– Homepage Ad viewer share of shoppers and purchasers at advertiser sites
– Demographics of ad exposed and control groups
– Demographics of ad exposed and ad exposed with viewthrough groups
– Brand queries of Valentine’s Day advertiser terms on the top 5 search engines
– Generic queries of flower shopping‐related terms on the top 5 search engines
Basis for Analysis
Compete formed the analysis of this study around the comparison’s noticed between the Control and Exposed Groups.
Accordingly, much of the data is shown indexing the exposed group to the control to measure lift.
Accordingly much of the data is shown indexing the exposed group to the control to measure lift

6. Homepage ad viewers comprised a significant
p
percentage of shoppers and purchasers
g pp p
21% of shoppers and 19% of purchasers at advertiser sites viewed a Valentine’s Day
•
homepage ad
Homepage Ad Viewer Share of Advertiser Traffic
(Percentage of unique visitors along the conversion funnel. Feb. 6 – 13, 2009)
Shoppers Purchasers
21% 19%
Homepage Ad Viewers (as a share of visitors) Hompage Ad Viewers (as a share of purchasers)

7. The Valentine’s Day homepage ad control and
exposed groups had similar demographic make‐ups
p gp gp p
Gender, Age, and Income demographic measurements indicated similarities in the control
•
and exposed user groups
Demographic Breakdown – Control vs. Exposed
(Percentage of consumers in each demographic bucket. Feb. 6 – 13, 2009) Read as: 26% of the exposed group was
between the age of 35 - 44
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Female Male <$30K $30‐60K $60‐100K $100K+ 0‐24 25‐34 35‐44 45‐54 55+
Gender Income Age
Control Exposed

8. Viewthrough visitors fit different demos than the
overall exposed group
p gp
Viewthrough visitors tended to be wealthier (+5ppts for those earning +$100k) than the
•
overall exposed group
Viewthrough visitors also tended to be slightly more male and in the 25‐34 and 45‐54 age
•
bracket
bk
Demographic Breakdown – Exposed vs. Exposed Viewthrough Visitors
(Percentage of consumers in each demographic bucket. Feb. 6 – 13, 2009)
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Female Male <$30K $30‐60K $60‐100K $100K+ 0‐24 25‐34 35‐44 45‐54 55+
Gender Income Age
Exposed Exposed ‐ Viewthrough

9. Ad exposure on portal homepages resulted in
stronger consideration of advertiser sites
1800Flowers.com ad viewers at AOL.com and MSN.com visited the advertiser roughly 2.5x
•
more often than control
Consideration Lift from Ad Exposure Read as: Yahoo! homepage ad viewers visited
(Ad exposed group indexed to control . Same Day and thru Feb. 13th, 2009) ProFlowers.com1.9x more often than control
300
260
220
180
140
100
ProFlowers.com 1800Flowers.com ProFlowers.com 1800Flowers.com
Viewthrough Lift ‐ Same Day Viewthrough Lift ‐ Thru Feb. 13
AOL.com MSN.com Yahoo.com

10. Ad exposure also resulted in significantly higher
purchase activity on advertiser sites
Homepage ad viewers at Yahoo.com visited advertiser sites 1.8x more often and purchased
•
2x more often than control
Consideration vs. Purchase Lift from Ad Exposure Read as: Yahoo! homepage ad viewers
(Ad exposed group indexed to control . Same Day and thru Feb. 13th, 2009) purchased 2x more often than control
200
180
160
140
120
100
Same Day Thru Feb. 13 Same Day Thru Feb. 13
Viewthrough Lift Purchase Lift
AOL.com MSN.com Yahoo.com

11. Ad exposure generated strong searcher interest in
advertiser brands and the retail flower category
gy
Homepage ad viewers searched for the advertiser by brand name 2.5x more often and
•
conducted a generic search query (flower shopping‐related) 5.4x more often than control
Read as: Homepage ad
viewers made 5.4x more
generic (flower shopping-
Search Lift from Ad Exposure related) queries than control
(Ad exposed group indexed to control . Thru Feb. 13th, 2009)
600
544
500
400
300
250
200
100
Branded Search Lift Generic Search Lift

12. Key Findings
Portal homepage ads delivered a considerable lift in consideration and purchase to
•
Valentine’s Day advertisers
– Ad viewers at Yahoo.com were nearly twice as likely to visit advertisers and purchase
compare to non‐viewers
i
Portal homepage ads drove significant share of traffic to Valentine’s Day advertisers
•
– Roughly 20% of shoppers and purchasers at advertiser sites viewed a homepage ad
Viewthrough visitors tended to be wealthier, as well as slightly more male and in the 24 35
Viewthrough visitors tended to be wealthier as well as slightly more male and in the 24‐35
•
and 45‐54 age group than the overall homepage ad exposed group
Thru
Metric Same Day
Feb. 13th
Viewthrough Lift
AOL.com 169 121
MSN.com 173 144
Yahoo.com 161 178
Purchase Lift
Ph Lift
AOL.com 117 110
MSN.com 160 135
Yahoo.com 197 172
Search Lift
Search Lift
Branded Search N/A 250
Generic Search N/A 544

13. Contact Information
Jeremy Crane Ranjan Butaney
Managing Director, Online Media & Search Senior Director, Business Development
jcrane@compete.com rbutaney@compete.com
617‐933‐5675 617‐933‐5620
Alex Patriquin
Alex Patriquin
Senior Associate, Online Media & Search
apatriquin@compete.com
617‐933‐5724