Study: Mainstream Companies Like 'Rich' Online Ads

NEW YORK: Reuters reported that mainstream marketers are increasingly embracing the video- and animation-filled Web spots that serve as an alternative to traditional banner and pop-up ads on the Web, according to a new study.

Nine of the top 10 video- and animation-filled Web spots, known as rich media ads, in the first quarter came from non-dotcom companies like State Farm Insurance, Verizon Communications , Procter & Gamble and General Motors , according to a study by research firm Nielsen/NetRatings .

Nielsen/NetRatings found that the companies like the rich media ads because they can cut through the clutter of online advertising.

"Advertisers and publishers alike appear to be greeting the new rich media technologies as a breath of fresh air, with a majority of traditional companies embracing the formats and including it in their media buying strategy," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research for Nielsen/NetRatings.

Online publishers have tried a slew of different ad formats since the heyday of the dot-com boom. But consumers who were initially intrigued by new formats often learned to tune them out.

"New formats are effective for three to four months," said Matthew Goldstein, vice president of online ad sales operations for MTV Networks, speaking at a DoubleClick conference in New York this week.

The growing popularity of animated ads that dance across a Web page and of interstitials, the longer-form ads that launch between Web pages, have spurred hopes that greater creative possibilities will finally engage consumers.

Buchwalter said the relatively higher cost of rich media ads has prompted advertisers to use them more sparingly: "Advertisers pay more money to target very specific demographics with an extremely large creative canvas, as opposed to bombing the Web with smaller branding banners and buttons."