Online Banner Blindness
Are banner advertisements effective in gaining the audience attention?
A study conducted by Nielson/Norman Group finds Internet users have grown a tendency to avoid banner ads altogether. This has been termed banner blindness.
Eye tracking software has revealed that Internet users are more likely to focus on the content of a page and completely ignore banner ads. The explanation of such a phenomenon is users past experiences have taught them that blaring banner ads have often directed them to undesirable sites or areas of malicious code.
But this study does not mark the end of all banner ads or online advertising for that matter. Studies have also found that clear text set in contrasting backgrounds, and easily recognizable logos still manages to grab the attention of users. The reason why, users are more incline to look at text rather than flashy attention seeking ads.
Should this study in banner advertisement effect the online advertising market?
The study of banner blindness may have caused a grey cloud over online advertising but the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has little concern for the study. President of the IAB Greg Stuart has said that “there has been thousands of studies now on the effectiveness online advertising” but the final result is that “online advertising work”. People can choose to deny the information that is there, but that’s all it is … denial.
In comparison with other traditional methods of advertising on television, magazines and bill boards, online advertising still stands out to have a much larger reach and cost efficiency. Take sponsored links for an example, when users are searching they do look upon sponsored links for relevancy. The links and titles of your website need to match precisely what the user are searching for, as they can be very unforgiving and move on rather quickly.
The position of your web content is also an important factor. The eye-tracking study also found that users tend to read web pages in a F-pattern, reducing their focus as they scroll down the page.
The 230 people who participated in the study has revealed that some of us may have developed a tendency to ignore banner ads, but designed correctly they can still draw our attention. So the days of online advertising will be with us for many more years to come.
