Drop in number of US internet users who click on display ads
New US research from comScore and Starcom USA reveals that the number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32% of internet users in July 2007 to only 16% in March 2009.
The research found that an even smaller core of people (representing 8% of the internet user base) account for the vast majority (85%) of all clicks.
Linda Anderson, comScore VP of marketing solutions and author of the study, said: “The act of clicking on a display ad is experiencing rapid attrition in the current digital marketplace.
“Today, marketers who attempt to optimize their advertising campaigns solely around the click are assigning no value to the 84 percent of Internet users who don’t click on an ad.
“That’s precisely the wrong thing to do, because other comScore research has shown that non-clicked ads can also have a significant impact. As a result, savvy marketers are moving to an evaluation of the impact that all ad impressions – whether clicked or not – have on consumer behavior, mirroring the manner in which traditional advertising has been measured for decades using reach and frequency metrics.”
A recent report from Jack Myers forecast that this year will be the first year that US ad spending online is greater than local and national spot TV.
Online expenditure is expected to rise from 10.6% of the total in 2008 to 12.2% this year, with the rise occurring despite a predicted 0.5% fall in online adspend to $24.5 billion in 2009.
Elsewhere, a study from GroupM predicted that that internet advertising will account for about 15% ($64.7 billion) of global measured adspend in 2010, up from an expected 13% this year.