Ads viewed in high-quality mobile web environment are perceived 74% more favourably than the same advertisements seen in low-quality environments, according to a new study.
Global technology company Integral Ad Science (IAS) has released biometric research that shows consumer perceptions of digital advertising.
The insights can be utilised by advertisers and publishers alike in their pursuit of more accurate suitability for digital ad placements.
Digital advertising is crucial for modern brands to stay competitive in their respected markets as they strive to better communicate their brand’s suitability requirements without limiting scale, while publishers actively work to understand and meet these thresholds. Advertisers, publishers, and consumers benefit from a focus on brand suitability by increasing campaign effectiveness and streamlining the overall consumer experience.
Key findings include:
- Almost three quarters (74%) of the participants perceived ads more favourably in a high-quality mobile web environment
- Consumers are three times less willing to associate with brands that run ads alongside unsavoury content
- Content in a high-quality web environment can generate up to 20% higher engagement and up to 30% greater memorability amongst consumers than low-quality options
- Consumer response peaks when looking at the entire context of an ad placement, generating a strong halo effect for brands’ advertising in high-quality environments
These results were found by observing 50 people during a 30-minute mobile experience by Neuro-Insight using Steady State Topography (SST). Participants were shown eight digital display creative, with articles and creatives rotated to control for sequential bias.
The study’s findings put measurable neurological results behind the idea that mobile ad effectiveness directly ties to display environment, putting the age-old debate to rest. The biometric study looked at the brain centres responsible for positive and negative affinity and found that consumers liked ad creative more when seen next to high-quality content and actively disliked ads when they appeared next to lower quality content (as determined by IAS proprietary risk scoring). The study indicated that consumers are three times less willing to associate with brands that run alongside unsavoury content.
“This biometric research demonstrates that the quality of an ad’s environment has a dramatic impact on how people react to that ad” said Tony Marlow, CMO at IAS. “People respond to the entire context of an ad impression rather than just a single component of it, and this generates a very strong and positive halo effect for ads that are seen in high-quality environments.”
Advertisers strive to engage with consumers and impact their long-term memory of the brand or what the ad is asking them to do. In addition to ads being perceived more favourably, the IAS biometric research found that high quality content can generate up to a 20% higher engagement rate and up to a 30% greater memorability among consumers than in low-quality environments.
Advertisers, publishers, and consumers benefit from a focus on brand suitability by increasing campaign effectiveness and streamlining the overall consumer experience. And in the same vein, truly addressing brand suitability will require a shift from all stakeholders in the industry. Advertisers need to clearly spell out their brand suitability requirements without limiting scale, while publishers should actively work with brands to understand and meet their suitability thresholds.
The study monitored 50 people during a 30-minute mobile experience by Neuro-Insight using Steady State Topography (SST), a proprietary technology that tracks and records brain activity in real-time as participants navigate through a simulated mobile experience. Participants were shown eight digital display creatives spanning the auto, CPG, financial services, technology, and retail industries on eight mobile web environments that were selected based on IAS Brand Risk assessment (four high quality and four low quality). Articles and creatives were rotated to control for sequential bias.