Some interesting data from Starcom MediaVest seems to indicate that the majority of clicks being purchased by the known world are being consumed by unemployed, Twenty-something, gambling, shop-a-holic, Internet addicts.
Hmmm, this tends to explain why those overpriced Google AdWord campaigns you are running don’t seem to be performing very well despite the mountains of cash you’re dishing out.
The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.
Here is the full press release:
New Study Shows that Heavy Clickers Distort Reality of Display Advertising Click-Through Metrics
2/12/08
Starcom, Tacoda and comScore’s “Natural Born Clickers†findings suggest “the click is dead†as go-to measurement of effectiveness for brand-building display advertising campaigns
CHICAGO – Media agency Starcom USA, behavioral targeting network Tacoda, and digital consumer insight company comScore collaborated on a research study whose results call into question click-through rates as a primary source of accountability for Internet display advertising aimed at brand-building. Called “Natural Born Clickers,†the study reveals that a very small group of consumers who are not representative of the total U.S. online population is accountable for the vast majority of display ad click-through behavior.
Full findings of the study, its methodology and results are being presented this afternoon at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Florida.
The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.
Further preliminary Starcom data suggests no correlation between display ad clicks and brand metrics, and show no connection between measured attitude towards a brand and the number of times an ad for that brand was clicked. The research presentation suggests that when digital campaigns have a branding objective, optimizing for high click rates does not necessarily improve campaign performance.
“There is more and more emphasis by advertisers for greater return-on-objectives in campaigns, particularly in the digital space where the accountability data is so readily available,“ says Starcom USA Director of Connections Research and Analytics Grant Prentice. “Natural Born Clickers shows us that we can’t count on click-through rate as our primary success metric for display ads; Starcom is more reliant on shifts in brand attitude metrics and analytics tying on-line exposure to sales as the true measures of online advertising efficacy.â€Â
“While the click can continue to be a relevant metric for direct response advertising campaigns, this study demonstrates that click performance is the wrong measure for the effectiveness of brand-building campaigns,†said Erin Hunter, executive vice president at comScore. “For many campaigns, the branding effect of the ads is what’s really important and generating clicks is more of an ancillary benefit. Ultimately, judging a campaign’s effectiveness by clicks can be detrimental because it overlooks the importance of branding while simultaneously drawing conclusions from a sub-set of people who may not be representative of the target audience.â€Â
this research looks scary for advertisers but i there is so much potential online reaching customers and it is still the cheapest way to advertise.
Maybe this new study is thge reason a lot of Adsense guys are low on income…
I was on Digital Point the other day and a lot of guys were complaining there…
Kim:)
if you buy adwords, deactivate the ADs on content network.. Just allow search network…
thank’s for the information.
if this is true, I think it would be mean that adword price will be lower and lower.. and many website that using google adsense will loose their earning..
hope this is not happen :)
Who’s to say that there aren’t people employed to search the web and click on adverts to generate the company revenue. How many people actually click on one of these I certainly dont
I’ve yet to try adwords and have what I thought was a successful decision
More clicks mean more Revenue….for Google.
I’m not sure what you can do about it though. How on Earth could you attempt to get demographics about someone just from their IP address (which is all you have from a click)?
Heavy clicks doesn’t always mean more revenue.It all in the algorithm.And as mentioned above values of the clicks is going to decrease the clicks coming from the same sequence.Pay per click advertising will die if something is not done about it.