Consumers Prefer Online Sponsorship to Banner Ads

Results Unveiled from First-Ever Research into Web Users’ Awareness of and Attitudes Toward Site Sponsors

Web users both recognize and appreciate the difference between online ads and sponsorships, that’s the finding from the first-ever research study on the topic. The nationwide U.S. study, conducted by Performance Research, and commissioned by IEG, Inc. clearly illustrates that online sponsorship is a viable alternative to banner advertising.

"The online advertising model may be a dinosaur, but we now have data proving that online sponsorship is an effective way for marketers to communicate online," said IEG senior vice president Jim Andrews.

For example, the survey’s 500-plus respondents found sponsors to be more "trustworthy" (28% to 15%), "credible" (28% to 16%), "in tune with (their) interests" (32% to 17%) and "likely to enhance (their) site experience" (33% to 17%) than advertisers.

Even more significantly, 41% said they were more likely to consider purchasing a sponsor’s product or service, compared to 23% for advertisers. Such propensity to support site sponsors ranks in the top half of all types of sponsored properties studied by Performance Research, surpassing the loyalty of NBA, Major League Baseball, Olympic and NFL fans, among others.

The majority of respondents easily distinguished site sponsors from advertisers, relying on triggers such as supplied content and editorial cues such as "presented by" and "powered by" tags. Overall, respondents found sponsors to be less obtrusive (66% to 34%) and more engaging (58% to 42%) than advertisers.

Commenting on the findings Performance Research vice president Bill Doyle said, "The effectiveness of on-line advertising has escaped scrutiny for far too long. These findings prove sponsorship is an effective alternative for marketers wanting to communicate online."

A total of 522 respondents were interviewed on their comprehension of and feelings toward the different methods of Web site association. Interviews were conducted online by Performance Research in conjunction with Digital Marketing Services among respondents who are medium and frequent Internet users and were screened to be 18 or older. The sample was split evenly among men and women and among those over and less than 35 years of age. The margin of error for this study is no greater than 5.5%.

Respondents were shown a series of Web page images; for each image, one-half of the respondents were shown a version with a banner advertisement, and the remaining one-half were shown a nearly identical image with Web sponsorship identifications instead of advertisements.

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