Display advertising generates demand; search advertising fulfills demand

I’ve been meaning to write up a summary of the new Comscore whitepaper, Whither the Click?, which outlines the findings of their research on the effectiveness of display advertising. But as Fred Wilson did an excellent job, I’d suggest that readers just read that.

The punchline is that display advertising meaningfully increased the likelihood of internet users who saw that ad search for the product advertised, visit the product’s website, and buy the product advertised over the four week period following exposure:

It’s clear that display advertising, despite a lack of clicks, can have a significant positive impact on:
– Visitation to the advertiser’s Web site (lift of at least 46% over a four week period)
– The likelihood of consumers conducting a search query using the advertiser’s branded terms (a lift of at least 38% over a four week period)
– Consumers’ likelihood of buying the advertised brand online (an average 27% lift in online sales)
– Consumers’ likelihood of buying at the advertiser’s retail store (an average lift of 17%)

This is pretty stunning news. It means that banner advertising actually GENERATES demand for a product (by increasing search and visits to a website over a control group).

Read Fred Wilson’s summary of why display advertising works.