As we said back in September, the online display advertising business is sorely in need of an analytics package showing that the exposure of online display ads to the consumer can be tied directly to the performance of other campaigns including search – organic or paid.
We even postulated that ComScore might be in a position to provide this type of critical research for which online display advertising exchanges and networks are so desperate in order to sell to their clients.
Well, whaddya know? ComScore has come through for its client base of ad exchanges and networks in a new white paper called “Whither the Click.” (Get it here.) Thanks to MikeOnAds and Fred Wilson for the heads up.
Leveraging its 2 million member panel and aggregating a couple hundred ad effectiveness studies from its Brand Metrix product line, the Comscore research was presented by Gian M. Fulgoni and Marie Pauline Mörn to attendees of the
“Empirical Generalizations In Advertising Conference” in early December at the Wharton School.
DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Right Media Exchange, AOL Platform A’s BidPlace etal., should make this data mandatory in all initial presentations made by sales reps to potential clients.
As you can see, even offline, the benefits of an online display ad campaign are impressive.
As marketers look to expand beyond the limited and often expensive inventory of high performing search, data like ComScore’s will be critical. ClearSaleing and Microsoft are also making strides with their analytics products.
And, as these products become more widely available, marketers will understand that if they want to drive significant revenues and profit, they can do it through display advertising, a little understood component of the performance marketing toolkit.