Analysis of Independent Data Also Shows Advertising on Content Sites Performing Better Among Young, Affluent Audiences

New York, NY – January 8, 2009 – A new report released today by the Online Publishing Association, OPA, found that after analyzing independent Dynamic Logic MarketNorms data, advertising effectiveness scores on quality, original content sites, as represented by OPA members, were numerically higher than on the web in general, on portals or on ad networks. The strong showing for these sites swept across nearly all measurements outscored industry norms for the Internet in 47 out of 47 advertising metrics.

The new report, “Improving Ad Performance Online” is the second in a series of OPA reports leveraging Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms® database, the largest of its kind, and an industry standard for measuring online advertising’s effectiveness and branding impact. The first wave of the study was conducted in July, 2008. Both reports look at ad effectiveness scores for high quality, original content sites, compared with those for overall MarketNorms, portals and ad networks.

“The research has shown that a quality advertising environment delivers better results,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “Quality is proving to be a key point of differentiation during challenging economic times, increasing advertising performance relative to ad networks, portals, and overall MarketNorms.”

FINDINGS:

• Since the first report in July, aided brand awareness scores on OPA member sites have increased 38%, while scores on ad networks have declined 19%.
• Similarly, brand favorability scores for OPA member sites have risen 27%, while ad networks, portals and MarketNorms have dropped 29%, 17% and 6% respectively.
• The new data also shows that younger audiences (18-34 year olds) are estimated to be about twice as likely (106% better, on average) to form favorable opinions about advertised brands on OPA member sites than on portals and MarketNorms (83% better). And the same trend holds true for affluent audiences, where OPA member sites are estimated to be 94% more effective at impacting brand favorability than MarketNorms, and 118% more effective at impacting brand awareness.

Horan continued, “This data is particularly important because the current recession is the first since online advertising has become a mainstream reality. At a time when every advertiser is looking for the best return on their investment, a quality environment matters more than ever. While advertisers with tight budgets may consider the cheap alternative provided by ad networks, the adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is as true today as it was a hundred years ago.”

To download the report, please click here.

Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms® is a marketing effectiveness database of 4,460+ campaigns across more than a dozen industries collected from 6.8 million surveys worldwide. The results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, websites, advertiser industry and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns. The data in this report referred to as overall MarketNorms refers to the average performance of all online campaigns measured by Dynamic Logic in the last 3 years, including those on branded content sites, portals and ad networks. www.marketnorms.com.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million visitors, or 79% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2008 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.