Online advertisers miss benefits of targeting by time
18th February 2009Online advertisers are failing to target users at the time of day when they're most receptive to ad messages, according to IAB research.
Despite day-part targeting being common practice in the planning of above-the-line advertising, online advertisers and agencies haven't traditionally embraced the idea. A survey by the IAB and Lightspeed Research found more than half (51%) of people are more receptive to advertising after 6pm.
The findings suggest advertisers that take advantage of this prime evening period to target consumers could increase campaign penetration and reduce wastage.
Giles Ivey, director of sales at Sky Digital Media, said the research confirmed tactical ad opportunities were being missed online.
"When I worked in radio, brands such as Pizza Hut would advertise heavily between 11am and 1pm," he said. "The only brand I've known to advertise like this online is McDonald's, which has done lunchtime targeting."
David Day, European CEO of Lightspeed Research, said the findings could help advertisers increase their return on investment for online campaigns.
"Radio and TV are already well targeted around content, time of day and the mood of the consumer, but online is behind the curve," he said.
The research also revealed that 64% of consumers haven't clicked on advertising within a web page and 52% have never clicked on a sponsored link in a search result.
Sorcha Proctor, research manager for IAB UK, said, "This research highlights the need for marketers to fully appreciate and understand the consumer mindset when planning their online marketing campaigns."
The research found 51% of consumers were likely to pay attention to a relevant ad and 49% were more likely to notice useful ads, with consumers most likely to pay attention when researching deals (19%) and shopping online (13%). This offers obvious opportunities for advertisers to take advantage of interested consumers.
"Retail brands need to get in front of internet users at every point of the customer journey, and the study emphasises the need to respect consumers if brands want them to engage effectively with their marketing messages," said Proctor.
But Alex Randall, group trading director at digital network Isobar, warned of a danger in narrowing metrics down too far. "Any advertiser should be getting into the mindset of the audience it's trying to hit, but there are so many metrics, such as behavioural targeting, demographics, and time of day, that it's complicated and there's a danger of narrowing too much," he said.
The findings are more pertinent as people significantly increase the amount of time they spend online; 47% more people are visiting social networks now than they did last year and 46% more are watching catch-up TV, video and movie clips than a year ago.
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