Ads in digital media have to work harder than in traditional media, study finds

Consumers using traditional media, including magazines, have been found to be in a more positive mood and more likely to be interested in entertainment and relaxation than people using digital media, who were more likely to be in busy moods, seeking control or solving a problem and more likely to be by themselves. This, according to a study reported in the the New York Times.

The research has major implications for the way marketers regard various media and how they align them to the products that they are trying to sell. It is based on 4,000 ad impressions and respondents reaction to each.

The study, called “When Advertising Works,” was conducted by Yankelovich in association with Sequent Partners. The Center for Media Design at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., provided assistance.

The study covered 16 types of media. Besides TV, the traditional kinds included billboards, magazines, newspapers, radio and movie theater commercials. The digital kinds included e-mail messages, Internet banner ads, social networking Web sites, video games and video-sharing Web sites like YouTube.

When asked what kind of an impression the ad made, 56 percent of survey respondents said traditional media ads made a positive impression, in contrast to 31 percent who said that about digital media ads. Thirteen percent reported a negative impression of traditional media ads versus 21 percent for digital media ads. Thirty-two percent said they had neither a positive nor a negative impression of traditional media ads, in contrast to 48 percent who said they had neither a good or bad impression of digital media ads.

J. Walker Smith, president at the Yankelovich Monitor division of Yankelovich in Atlanta, said that, although new media may be better at helping people solve problems, "when I’m tracking down information or looking for an answer or trying to compare things or searching for a link, ads are irritating to a degree not true when I’m relaxed and unwinding with TV or a magazine and thus more open to diversion."

That may mean that "advertising will always have to work harder to make a positive impression in digital media," he added.