New York, NY August 28, 2000 - The majority of all online ad banners have short life spans, running on average three weeks or less,
according to a new report released today by AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix (NASDAQ: MMXI) and an innovator in Internet advertising
measurement technology. With few advertisers running large online campaigns, an overwhelming majority of advertisers have less than a 0.01
percent share of all online advertising impressions.
Key findings from the latest AdRelevance Intelligence Report, which analyzes standard 468x60 banner ad campaigns on the top 500 Web
sites between July 1999 and June 2000, include:
- Although most banner ads run for three or fewer weeks, the average banner runs for five and a half weeks.
- The automotive industry schedules online ads to run the longest, an average of 7.8 weeks. This is almost twice as long as the
average banner duration for a hardware and electronics ad, which typically lasts 4.1 weeks.
- The consumer goods industry embraces the most targeted ad approaches, with only 40 percent of online impressions appearing on
broad reach sites like portals, search engines and community destinations. At the other end of the spectrum, Web media, financial
services and travel advertisers appear to be targeting the least, running an overwhelming majority of ad impressions on broad reach sites.
- While the average campaign in the second quarter weighed in at 7,265,000 impressions, more than half of all advertisers ran campaigns
with less than 44,000 impressions. A campaign this small would only garner a 0.0003 percent share of voice on a major portal like Yahoo!.
"While most advertisers are running relatively short campaigns, shorter campaigns are not necessarily better campaigns," said Charlie
Buchwalter, vice president of media research for the AdRelevance division of Media Metrix. "Although shorter campaigns may concentrate
banner impressions, thereby increasing the share of voice and share of market for an advertiser, only longer campaigns can bring about a
change in consumer attitudes and behavior. The latest AdRelevance findings suggest that automotive, financial services and travel
advertisers are out to change behavior because they are running banners the longest, when compared to other industries."
| Table A: |
 |
Length of Time Banners Run |
| Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix |
 |
| Number of Weeks |
Percent |
| 1 |
23.7% |
| 2 |
16.0% |
| 3 |
11.9% |
| 4 |
9.3% |
| 5 |
7.8% |
| 6 |
5.4% |
| 7 |
4.0% |
| 8 |
3.3% |
| 9 |
2.8% |
| 10 |
2.4% |
| 11 |
1.8% |
| 12 |
1.6% |
| 13 |
1.3% |
| 14 |
1.1% |
| 15 |
0.9% |
| 16 |
0.8% |
| 17 |
0.7% |
| 18 |
0.6% |
| 19 |
0.5% |
| 20 |
0.5% |
| More than 20 |
3.7% |
| Table B: |
Average Number of Weeks a Banner Runs by Industry
Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix |
| |
Industry |
Average Number of Weeks |
| |
Automotive |
7.8 |
| |
Financial Services |
6.9 |
| |
Travel |
6.0 |
| |
Consumer Goods |
5.6 |
| |
Web Media |
5.5 |
| |
Software |
5.1 |
| |
Retail |
5.0 |
| |
Entertainment |
4.9 |
| |
Business-to-Business |
4.9 |
| |
Telecommunications |
4.8 |
| |
Hardware & Electronics |
4.1 |
| Table C: |
Share of Impressions by Site Type
Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix |
| |
Web Media |
86.20% |
13.80% |
| |
Financial Services |
83.00% |
17.00% |
| |
Business to Business |
72.70% |
27.30% |
| |
Telecom |
72.70% |
27.30% |
| |
Retail |
70.10% |
29.90% |
| |
Software |
69.00% |
31.00% |
| |
Entertainment |
58.90% |
41.10% |
| |
Hardware and Electronics |
53.50% |
46.50% |
| |
Automotive |
51.90% |
48.10% |
| |
Consumer Goods |
40.40% |
59.60% |
The AdRelevance Intelligence Report also analyzes ad impression distribution strategies for campaigns running four,
eight and 12 weeks - revealing that banner impressions, on average, are heavier in the beginning of four and 12 week campaigns.
On the other hand, campaigns running eight weeks tend to feature higher impression levels in the middle. Impressions for the
average banner in an eight week campaign peaked in the fifth week.
"There is no golden rule when it comes to campaign continuity, but it appears that advertisers are adopting two weighting approaches -
either front-loading for shorter campaigns or pulsing for longer campaigns," Buchwalter said. "The conclusions from this AdRelevance
Intelligence Report support the fact that the online advertising market is still in its infancy, and has a way to go before analysts can
accurately determine what constitutes an effective and successful online ad campaign. We'll know things are changing when more companies
commit to larger, longer and more targeted online campaigns."
A complete version of this AdRelevance Intelligence Report, titled "The Science (or Art?) of Online Media Planning," can be
viewed at http://intelligence.adrelevance.com and includes compelling ad metric charts and graphs as well as additional analytic
insights on the findings. For more information on AdRelevance and a free demo or trial of the service, please visit
www.adrelevance.com or call 1-888-649-6540.
Definitions
Impressions: The number of times an ad is rendered for viewing. One impression is equivalent to one opportunity to see an ad.
Genre: Exclusive groups of sites similar in content and function.
AdRelevance Intelligence Reports
AdRelevance Intelligence Reports are released monthly and are designed to provide customers, news media and industry watchers with a
timely perspective on the rapidly changing landscape of online advertising.
AdRelevance Intelligence Reports are compiled by the company's Media Research Group, who analyze data collected from AdRelevance's
proprietary ad tracking service. Each member of the team brings industry-specific expertise to their analyses as well as an understanding of
marketing strategies and Internet technology.
About AdRelevance, a Division of Media Metrix
Media Metrix, Inc., with more than 900 clients, is the leader and pioneer in Internet and Digital Media measurement and the industry's source
for the most comprehensive, reliable and timely audience ratings, e-commerce, advertising and technology measurement services. Through its
acquisition of AdRelevance, the innovator in Internet advertising measurement technology, the company offers intelligence data on where, when,
how and how much web marketers and their competition are advertising online. Reporting actual audience usage behavior for more than 21,000
websites and online properties with its state-of-the-art real-time meter, and using AdRelevance intelligent agent technology to comb thousands
of unique URLs for Internet advertisements, Media Metrix helps online and traditional businesses, web marketers, web publishers, ad agencies and
financial analysts gain a better understanding of the digital marketplace. Media Metrix has worldwide operations in Australia, Canada, France,
Germany, Japan, Latin America, Sweden and the U.K. For more information on AdRelevance and a free trial of the service, please visit
www.adrelevance.com or call 1-888-649-6540. Additional information about
Media Metrix can be found at www.mediametrix.com.
Editors Note: Unless otherwise noted, please source all data as the following: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix.