Horses for courses I think Lucy - a consumer’s interest is most likely to be determined by the targeting (or lack of it) and placement. Is the ad in context with the surrounding content?

Some rich ads delay the message, to allow the user to settle on a loaded page, rather than bombarding the user to begin with (alongside all that other content, images, navigation elements, logo etc). Think about where the ad appears on the page. Will the user instantly see your message? Yes to a banner, but what if your ad is below the dreaded fold?

In terms of length, I reckon 10 seconds is too short and 30 seconds is too long unless I have asked for it. They are meant to be interactive after all. On-demand content is the way to go, rather than forcing uninterested consumers to sit through heavy ads that they don't wish to see. Think about functionality, as well as content/creative.

There is no fixed rule though. The format is important, but more than anything the ads need to be contextually placed and targeted. How much the publisher knows about its user base is likely to impact on your ability to do this.

Let us know how you get on / your findings.

Cheers,

c.

Lucy,

I think a benchmark is a good thing for measuring performance outputs (ie like click through rate, etc) but you shouldn't try to find a benchmark for one of a large number of inputs. Does that make sense? In motherhood terms: I'm wurried about baby as I don't think he's growing at the right rate. Hmmm, ok, well how many apples do you feed him? The point is that the apples fed is meaningless unless you normalise for the number of oranges and bananas fed too. So let me know when you've normalised for graphical impact, number of impressions, copy, call to action, offer, placement, prevailing competition's ads, etc. Explain this to whoever asked you the question. Sometimes 'it depends' is the right answer and they shouldn't be asking the question again 5 months later ;-)

On 16:31:20 28 February 2005 Lucyf wrote:

Hello

Has anyone come across figure for a benchmark on how long an online advert should be, for maximum impact

Either by seconds or number for frames? Is there a point after which the consumer has lost interest?

many thanks

Lucy