Effects of Personalized Banner Ads on Visual Attention and Recognition Memory

Abstract

Internet companies collect a vast amount of data about their users in order to personalize banner ads. However, very little is known about the effects of personalized banners on attention and memory. In the present study, 48 subjects performed search tasks on web pages containing personalized or nonpersonalized banners. Overt attention was measured by an eyetracker, and recognition of banner and task-relevant information was subsequently examined. The entropy of fixations served as a measure for the overall exploration of web pages. Results confirm the hypotheses that personalization enhances recognition for the content of banners while the effect on attention was weaker and partially nonsignificant. In contrast, overall exploration of web pages and recognition of task-relevant information was not influenced. The temporal course of fixations revealed that visual exploration of banners typically proceeds from the picture to the logo and finally to the slogan. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Fixation and Recall of Youtube Ad Banners: An Eye-Tracking Study

“…Again, subjects in this study, at least, were not blind to the ad banners. Compared to the findings in previous projects 22,45 , the number of fixations and the duration of fixation on banners in Koster et al 45 were 4.02 times and 0.851 seconds while those in Lapa 21 were 3.01 times and 2.69 seconds. Our finding concerning the average fixation count (i.e., 17.88 times) was considerably higher, but that of the average fixation duration (i.e., 0.573 seconds) was considerably lower.…”

“…In Koster et al 45 , personalized banners obtained more fixation counts than non-personalized ones. Similarly, in Lapa 21 , banners with content related and relevant to that on the webpage on which the banners were displayed received more fixation counts than those with unrelated irrelevant content.…”

“…It is reasonable to assume in the current study that the clips were therefore considered more engaging to viewers than the ad banner. Had the banner been personalized or had content been relevant to the webpage matter 21,45 , fixation on the banner would have been more frequent or of a longer duration. The significant negative correlation between the number of fixations on the clip and the fixation duration on the ad banner also supports the assertion that the clips were of greater interest to subjects than the ad banner.…”

“…Although 8% is a relatively low percentage, it is consistent with results in previous studies 13,46 in which about 8-11% of viewers were able to correctly recall the presence of banners or their content. According to Koster's work 45 , subjects were able to recall an average of 21.6% of all ad content. Such a high level of recall could have been due to their use of personalized banners.…”

Processes and effects of targeted online advertising among children

“…They share their ages, favorite hobbies, brands, music, and books. Aided by technological innovations, advertisers increasingly use this personal information to target their campaigns to the interests of individual consumers (K€ oster et al 2015;Villiard and Moreno 2012). This technique is called profile targeting (see, for example, www.face book.com/advertising and www.instagram.com/about-ads).…”