Atlas Research Discovers that Consumers Convert at Much Higher Rates When Viewing Ads Across Multiple Web Sites

June 11, 2007; 03:50 AM
The Atlas Institute, a division of Atlas, a provider of digital marketing technologies and expertise and an operating unit of aQuantive, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQNT), released a study today that identifies the impact of advertising overlap across Web portals, including MSN, AOL, Yahoo! and Google, among others. The report titled, “How Overlap Impacts Reach, Frequency and Conversions” is available at: http://www.atlassolutions.com/institute_marketinginsights.aspx.

The study confirms that advertising overlap on multiple sites has a significant impact on consumer conversions, which is in stark contrast with current industry reporting standards that attribute 100 percent of online conversions to the last impression (or last “click”) seen. The study’s findings show that consumers are more likely to convert after viewing ads on multiple Web sites. Therefore, it is more accurate for marketers to attribute conversions to a full set of impressions and/or clicks.

The Study’s Significant Findings

• Consumers reached across multiple publishers were twice as likely to convert as those reached only on a single publisher.
• Ninety percent of the consumers that converted were reached by placements other than the last ad seen.
• Two out of three consumers who eventually took a responsive action were reached by ads across multiple portal sites before converting.

“The study validates the fact that most marketers need to plan beyond the last ad seen,” commented the study’s author, Jed Fowler, Analyst, Atlas Institute. “It’s critical that marketers review all consumer touch-points to determine credit for conversions.”

The Atlas Institute, dedicated to advertising effectiveness research, conducted the study throughout the first quarter of 2007. The study analyzed media campaigns of 16 advertisers that spanned the major retail, manufacturing, and health sectors. The analysis was based on five billion ads, 1.7 million online sales transactions, leads and registration conversions and more than 300 million anonymous users.

This latest study confirms that overlapped ads are typically responsible for the majority of online conversions. A previous Atlas Institute study “The Combined Impact of Search and Display Advertising” (http://www.atlassolutions.com/institute_marketinginsights.aspx) also reinforces the importance of overlap. It demonstrated that sponsored search and display advertising together provide a 22 percent higher conversion rate over search alone.

“Overlap across publishers has tremendous implications for an ad campaign’s performance, marketers can no longer ignore the magnitude of reaching consumers across multiple sites,” concluded Fowler.

About Atlas Institute

Atlas Institute is a division of Atlas, an advertising technology provider, solely dedicated to conducting research in online advertising. The Institute publishes Digital Marketing Insights, a series of publications by the Institute’s senior marketing analysts and digital marketing experts that help customers improve their digital marketing effectiveness. Many of these findings are also made available to the digital marketing industry at large. Each Digital Marketing Insight report is designed to help marketers more successfully build value with their customers, throughout the customer lifecycle: from awareness to acquisition and from retention to growth. To view a full listing of the Atlas Institute's Digital Marketing Insights, please visit http://atlassolutions.com/institute_marketinginsights.aspx

About Atlas

Atlas is a leading provider of digital media technologies for agencies, advertisers and publishers. Atlas solutions for agencies and advertisers enable the unified management of digital marketing campaigns across display banners, rich media, search, video, and Web sites. Atlas solutions for publishers maximize advertising revenue across all available and developing digital media platforms. With industry-leading tools and close collaboration, Atlas helps our clients achieve dramatic, measurable results.

Atlas serves its clients from offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Denver, Raleigh and London. Atlas, an operating unit of aQuantive, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT), is a member of the NAI, adhering to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC, and is the first third-party ad server to complete the auditing process and achieve ad measurement accreditation by the Media Rating Council.