"As more ad dollars are spent online, there exists a very real question of which Web environments are best for advertisers," said Online Publishers Association president Pam Horan. "It is important for marketers to know whether certain sites attract users that engage in the specific activities important to them -- thereby creating the richest advertising environments."
Horan continued, "Using third party syndicated research, this study demonstrates that branded original content sites deliver more valuable buyers than portal and search sites. Online Publishers Association sites allow advertisers to be where consumers are eager to learn, more likely to buy, and more willing to spend."
The study, which used the research and analysis services of DJG Marketing, leverages the most recent data from Nielsen Netratings' @Plan Summer 2006 index and MRI's Spring 2006 index to measure online purchasing behavior of visitors to OPA branded content sites, portals and search sites. Indices are calculated by dividing a site's percentage of audience for a particular variable by the U.S. online audience percentage (indexed as 100; so if OPA sites attracted an audience that has 20 percent more of a particular variable, the OPA index would be 120).
Finding the Most Valuable Buyers
In examining how often audiences engage in specific activities important to marketers, the study reveals a clear pattern: across a broad spectrum of activities, Online Publishers Association audiences offer a significant advantage. Because they research more, buy more, engage in more transactions, and spend more money, these audiences offer marketers a richer advertising environment.
This advantage is constant in the key categories, including: Automotive, Entertainment, Financial, Home, Travel and B2B. In each, OPA audiences more actively purchase goods and services, conduct online research and engage in financial transactions -- and often times spend more -- than portal and search site visitors.
The activity of auto buyers is one example from the research that demonstrates the value of OPA audiences. According to the study, OPA audiences are more likely to shop for and purchase vehicles.
The OPA study also considers the unique attributes of audiences that visit specific types of sites. Across the range of key verticals -- Automotive, Business News, Entertainment, Health, Information/Review, Lifestyle, News/Current Events and Sports -- OPA audiences are attractive both for advertising related directly to that vertical and for a wide range of advertising categories.
Again using the auto example, the study shows that OPA automotive sites index extremely high for auto buyers -- but also that wide spectrum of OPA sites (such as health and entertainment sites) index very high for active auto buyers.
Video View
With video, the advantage of branded original content sites is once again apparent. OPA audiences actively consume online video, outpacing both general Web audiences and portal audiences. OPA visitors consistently index very high in the most important video categories, including Breaking News (127), Movies/Movie Clips (126), and Pre-recorded TV (129). The study also shows that OPA audiences are more willing to pay for online video and audio.
Full details of the report are available at www.online-publishers.org.
OPA Members
Current members of the Online Publishers Association are: ABCNews.com, About.com, AllBusiness.com, Bankrate.com, Belo Interactive, Brides.com, BusinessWeek Online, CBS Digital Media, CNBC.com, CNET Networks, Inc., CNN.com, Choice Media, CondéNet, ConsumerReports.org, Cox Enterprises, Discovery Communications, Dow Jones Online, Edmunds.com, ESPN.com, Forbes.com, Foxnews.com, Gannett Co., Inc., HowStuffWorks.com, Internet Broadcasting, Inc.com/Fast Company, iVillage, Jupitermedia, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, McClatchy Interactive, Media General, Meredith Interactive, MSNBC.com, MTV.com, Nascar.com, The New York Times Company, Reuters.com, Rodale, Scripps Networks, Scripps Newspapers, Slate, SportingNews.com, Time Inc. Interactive, Tribune Interactive, USATODAY.com, Walt Disney Internet Group, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, Weatherbug and The Weather Channel Inc.
Founded in 2001, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public.
Posted March 11th, 2007 by Armen Hareyan
