Each extra minute of exposure to display ads can boost direct traffic to company website by 10%: research

Each additional minute of exposure to display ads can boost direct traffic to company eebsite by 10%: research A new digital attribution model shows that advertising effects are amplified up to four times when consumers are targeted earlier and for longer periods of time

This new framework gives advertisers the ability to causally measure the impact of digital advertising on the search and purchase behaviour of consumers, which is a key component in a broader marketing campaign.

New research from NYU Stern Professor Anindya Ghose and Emory University Professor Vilma Todri introduces a unique digital attribution framework to measure the effectiveness of display advertising on a consumer's likelihood to search for a brand or product, and ultimately, make a purchase.

Moreover, their research shows advertising effects are amplified up to four times when consumers are targeted earlier in the purchase funnel and exposed to the ad for longer durations.

This first-of-its-kind study uses real-world settings and data to examine how actual viewability of display advertising – and the length of exposure to display ads – impacts consumer behavior from initial exposure to final purchase. This framework is part of a pioneering set of research focused on digital attribution, or determining which display advertising channel deserves the most credit for a consumer's purchase – a key question among advertising executives who manage campaigns for brands.

Using a large-scale, individual-level data set, which tracked the entire advertising campaign of a US-based retailer, the study reveals:

On average, 55 per cent of display ads are not viewable – meaning they are not visible on a consumer's screen area for more than one second.

Exposure to display ads increases the chances that a consumer will engage in active search and visit a company's website by more than 36 per cent.

Additionally, consumers are 25 per cent more likely to click on a search ad served up to them on Google.

When a consumer is targeted earlier in the purchase funnel, one additional minute of exposure to display advertising can increase the likelihood he/she will visit a company website by almost 10 per cednt.

Consumers are also 7 per cent more likely to complete a purchase after seeing a display ad. 

''This new framework gives advertisers the ability to causally measure the impact of digital advertising on the search and purchase behaviour of consumers, which is a key component in a broader marketing campaign,'' Professor Ghose explained. ''By using an attribution model such as ours, they can now measure return-on-investment more effectively and more readily optimize their budgets.''

The article, Towards a Digital Attribution Model: Measuring the Impact of Display Advertising on Online Consumer Behavior,'' is due to appear in in MIS Quarterly and was nominated for a Best Paper Award at the 2015 INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST).