DoubleClick Survey Shows Work Time Is Internet Prime Time
Internet usage is highest from noon to mid-afternoon and gradually declines throughout the day to a low point at midnight, according to the latest ad serving trend report from DoubleClick.
The report, for the first quarter of 2003, supports research by Nielsen and comScore which deduced that the online medium has distinctive dayparts, just like television. However, despite evidence that there is value in planning advertising at specific times of the day, less than 3% of ads surveyed utilised this method. Day parting makes particular sense for news and sports sites which are heavily viewed by the at-work audience, but the technique is yet to take off.
The online industry has been struggling to provide standard ad sizes which would help facilitate the planning and buying process and there is growing demand for new creative and innovative ad formats. Despite these challenges, the report reveals the drive to standardise online advertising is progressing well and on average, 70% of all sizes meet Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) recommendations (see IAB Promotes New Large Ad Formats).
Of the new ad formats introduced by the IAB, skyscrapers are the fastest growing units and now account for 8.4% of all ads surveyed.
Other new forms of internet advertising are also taking hold. For instance, rich media ads (e.g. pop-ups, dynamic ads that move across the screen and ads that incorporate flash) have increased substantially. These ads accounted for almost 28% of all those surveyed in the first quarter of 2003, compared to 17.3% in the same period last year. The report also shows that rich media provides better conversion rates than other ads.
DoubleClick concludes that online advertising is becoming more like other ad platforms, with an increase in the number of standardised units and targeting techniques adopted from both print and television.
The number of UK households with internet access increased by 1.6 million to 11.4 million during 2002, according to a new report from the Office of National Statistics (see Newsline Feature: Internet Usage On The Up In 2002).
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