WebProNews

Advertising displayed on relevant content pages on general interest Web sites did better than the same advertising on out of context pages, according to a study by Online Testing eXchange and commissioned by ContextWeb.

The study revealed that ads placed on relevant pages on neutral sites can offer some of the same advantages as those placed on highly relevant sites and have the potential to do as well on those sites in ad and brand recognition.

The study tested a top consumer electronics manufacturer’s ad on Web pages in three different areas. A page on an average consumer electronics site, the technology section of leading newspaper’s site and a page in the online opinion section of the same newspaper.

The ad on the technology page of the newspaper’s site did better than the identical ad in the opinion section of the newspaper’s Web site, including ad recognition and brand recognition. The contextually served ad also did better in communicating information about the product to consumers compared to the opinion page.

Comparing the results between the ad on the technology page of the newspaper’s site to the identical ad on the computer Web site revealed equal performance as the (relevant) computer web site in the ad’s ability to communicate meaningful information, its influence on likelihood to buy or consider the products being advertised, and the consumers opinion of that brand.