Not a banner day for advertising

As a public service to anyone planning their next online ad campaign I offer up the following facts about internet banner advertising.


1. Over 5.3 trillion display ads were served to U.S. users last year. (ComScore)
2. That’s one trillion more than 2009. (ComScore)
3. The typical Internet user is served 1,707 banner ads per month. (Comscore)
4. Click-through rates are .1 percent. (DoubleClick)
5. The 468 x 60 banner has a .04 percent click rate. (DoubleClick)
6. An estimated 31 percent of ad impressions can’t be viewed by users. (Comscore)
7. Eight percent of Internet users account for 85 percent of clicks. (ComScore)
8. Up to 50 percent of clicks on mobile banner ads are accidental. (GoldSpot Media)
9. 15 percent of people trust banner ads completely or somewhat, compared to 29 percent for TV ads. (eMarketer)
10. 34 percent don’t trust banner ads at all or much, compared to 26 percent for magazine ads. (eMarketer)

Do you remember when banner ads were supposed to finally bring accountability to the ad business by offering an platform where actual consumer behavior could be measured? The phrase, be careful what you wish for, comes to mind here. It appears that if you're looking for a more cluttered, ineffective and easy to ignore ad tactic, it would be hard to underperform banner ads.

This is why the New York Times and others are trying different revenue models for their online content. It has to be easier to convince consumers to pay for quality content than businesses to pay for ads that work this poorly.