SpectatorBytes

The Online Publishers Associate just released a study which concludes that advertisers can boost the effectiveness of their ads by focusing their campaigns on branded content sites. Below are some of the key findings outline in the report (Full report here):

- Ads Placed on Content Sites Raise Brand Favorability and Purchase Intent Significantly More than Ads Run on Portals

- Ads on Content Sites Provide Double the Brand Favorability and Purchase Intent than Advertising Placed with Ad Networks

- Sponsorships on Branded Content Sites are 36% More Effective than on Portals

- Video ads on content sites have greater impact — For example, brand awareness and favorability are about 40%+ greater on content sites than MarketNormsaverages

- Rich media ads are more effective at engaging content site visitors –making content sites a better platform for newer ad technologies; Rich media ads are 25% more likely to be seen when placed on  content sites than when run on ad networks; Visitors are about 66% more likely to remember advertised messages on content sites than ad networks, and more than twice as likely to develop favorable brand opinions

Since OPA’s members clearly benefit from these findings, one needs to keep this study in context.

Having said that, there is a couple of things I find interesting in the study. First, the additional measures use in the study to determine the value of a particular advertising campaign such as “Message Association”, “Brand Favorability” and “Purchase Intent.” These measures try assess the value that brands can derive from advertising on well-targeted environments. Unfortunately, these measures do not have the same simplicity as CPM, CPA and CPC which makes these metrics “scalable.”

Second, this study measure the effectiveness of online advertising in the same way that TV and print have done so to validate their value proposition. As a result, the study falls short in trying to validate the unique value proposition online media can provide via engagement and interactivity.

Nevertheless, I think this data needs to be factored in the discussion between premium and performance advertising on the Web.