Web Ads Displayed, but Ignored, Study Says

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Companies doling out serious scratch for prominent online display ads will be distressed to learn that 46 percent of visitors to Web sites don't even see the ads, according to a new study reported in Ad Age.

ComScore's Validated Campaign Essentials ("VCE") tracking service found viewability of online ads by Web visitors was nothing to write home about, ComScore chair Gian Fulgoni told attendees this week in New York City at the Advertising Research Foundation Audience Measurement 8.0 Conference, Ad Age reported. Twenty-two of the nation's 25 largest advertisers subscribe to the VCE service.

Adhering to the minimum standard endorsed by the Media Rating Council and Making Measurement Make Sense(3MS), Comscore measures viewability by considering an online ad viewable if a minimum 50 percent of pixels are visible to a site visitor for at least a half-second. The Ad Age article noted the importance of viewability to companies, citing how a 40 percent jump in viewability of digital ads by Kellogg yielded a 75 percent increase in sales life from online advertising.