Measuring the impact of online advertising on Irish premium content sites versus international sites

April 2013J.4072

Prepared for

2

The Survey

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About AOP Ireland

● The Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Ireland is the industry body representing Irish digital publishing companies that create local, original, branded, quality content

● All AOP Ireland members support a common goal in publishing high quality content where advertisers can have confidence that viewers will attribute higher levels of trust in the ads they see considering these to be both relevant and accessible to them

● AOP Ireland members include IrishTimes.com, Entertainment.ie, TV3.ie, Independent.ie, TheJournal.ie and RTE.ie

● AOP Ireland publishes research similar to its sister organisations, the Online Publisher’s Association in the USA and the Association of Online Publishers in the UK, so that advertisers, the media and the public clearly understand the benefits that quality, local digital publishing provides

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Research Overview

● The research set out to examine whether Irish internet users are more likely to notice and react to advertising that appears on Irish sites compared to international sites

● It consisted of a national internet survey among 571 adults through Behaviour & Attitudes’ consumer panel Acumen. The fieldwork took place between 18 and 26 of February 2013

● The survey was controlled by gender, age and region. The data was subsequently weighted to national internet population (representative of all internet users in Ireland)

● The research was divided into 2 sections:

1: RECALL TEST

2: PERCEIVED AD RELEVANCY TEST

● In section one of the survey, 4 web pages were shown (2 AOP Ireland sites and 2 international sites). In section two, 8 web pages were shown (4 AOP Ireland and 4 international sites). Across each section independently, the ads were rotated in random order to ensure equal representation

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Key Research Highlights

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Key Findings

● 78% of Irish internet users recognise that ads on Irish premium content sites are relevant to them in contrast to only 11% who think that ads on international sites are aimed at them, despite geo targeting

● Irish internet users also have a higher level of recall of ads displayed on Irish sites. 72% of users recall online ads on Irish premium sites compared to 52% on international sites

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Recall

This survey is about the Internet. You will now be shown a sequence of four web pages. You will then be asked a series of questions based on your observations. None of the pages are live. They are static and therefore non scrolling. When you have reviewed all four pages, we will begin the survey.

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Level of recall on AOP versus international sitesBase: All internet users - 571

Q Taking all four web pages into consideration, which if any of the following brands can you recall being advertised on any of these pages?

ANY IRISH WEBSITE

Meteor

BMW

ANY NON IRISH WEBSITE

Vodafone

Sky

72

60

41

52

39

28

%

Entertainment.ieRTE.ieHuffingtonpost.co.ukDailyTribune.com

Irish Internet users have a higher recall of brand ads when posted

on AOP Ireland sites

AOP Ireland Site

International Site

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Recall findings

● Survey participants were asked to look at a series of sites and given no indication that they would be asked about their thoughts on the advertising on those pages

● The research found that Irish internet users are more likely to recall advertising that appears on Irish premium content sites – 72% vs 52%

● These findings build upon the AOP Ireland study on online engagement which shows that Irish internet users find advertising on AOP Ireland sites is more engaging than social networks or portals

● Previous research showed:

81% of Irish internet users agree that advertising is well matched to the content on AOP Ireland sites

32% say advertising on AOP Ireland sites makes them feel more positively towards the brand

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Relevance

We will now show you a sequence of two web pages. After each page is displayed, you will be asked a series of questions on the advertisements you will have just viewed.

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13

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Level of relevance on AOP versus international sitesBase: All internet users - 571

Yes

No

Not sure

78

11

7

59

15

30

Across all AOP Ireland

sites

Across allinternationa

lsites

% %

Q4a We will now show you a sequence of two web pages. After each page is displayed, you will be asked a series of questions on the advertisements you have just viewed. Thinking in general about advertisements on … (specified )website, do you think these ads are aimed at an Irish audience or not?

The evidence suggests that Irish internet users are 8 times more likely to pay attention to ads appearing on AOP Ireland sites than ads appearing on international sites.

*8 ads rotated across 8 web pages (4 AOP Ireland web pages and 4 international web pages)

TheJournal.ieIndependent.ieIrishTimes.comTV3.ieTheGuardian.co.ukDailymail.co.ukGawker.comNewYorker.com

Yes

No

Not sure

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Level of relevance on AOP versus international sitesBase: All internet users - 571

Q.4a

Thinking in general about advertisements on … website, do you think these ads are aimed at an Irish audience or not?

Yes

No

Not sure

78 7580 76 81

11 14 177 6

77

87

7

5960 55

5467

15 1812 16 12

30 26 2739

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Appeared on AOP Ireland sites

Appeared on International sites

TOTAL (TheJour-nal.ie)

(Indep-endent.ie)

(Irish-Times.com)

(TV3.ie) TOTAL (Theguar-dian.co.uk)

(Daily-mail.co.uk)

(Gaw-ker.com)

(New-yorker.com)

% % % % % % % % % %

An undeniable truth!

Yes

No

Not sure

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Reasons why ad is relevant to Irish audience Open/Freetext Response

Q.4b

Why do you think this advertisement on the …. Website is relevant to an Irish audience?

Advertised on Irish website viewed by Irish market

Prices displayed in Euro

Leading company/large presence within Ireland

Good value/offers provided

News stories/advertising shown relevant to Ireland

Don’t know

35

9

5

5

4

7

%

Any Ads Appearing

on AOP Ireland sitesBase: All internet users - 571

“It's an Irish newspaper, which will be viewed by Irish people.”

“Because they're

advertising on the journal.ie a

website targeting Irish people”

“Advert is in an obviously Irish publication.”

“I associate the Irish Times with Ireland and Irish people reading

it.”

“Yes it was on a .ie website and I assume the majority of people who click through are based in Ireland.”

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Reasons ad is not relevant to Irish audienceOpen/Freetext Response

Q.4c

Why do you think the advertisement on the …. Website is not relevant to an Irish audience?

Advertised on UK website/aimed at UK market

Convertible car unsuitable for Irish climate

International/global appeal

Generic advert/appeal

Lacking Irish references/connection

Don’t know

8

7

6

6

5

2

%Any Ads Appearing

on international sitesBase: All internet users - 571

“It’s an American website and is aimed at an audience from anywhere, not specifically any country.”

“It's a UK website. With VRT I would tend not to trust any facts or prices on a site that wasn't defo Irish”

“As this is a UK brand that also operates in Ireland it could have been relevant for either the UK or Ireland. I don't recall seeing an indicator that it was for us.”

“It's relevant, but just doesn't strike me as particularly targeted at Irish audiences.”

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Relevance findings● Survey participants were shown two sites at random (one AOP

Ireland and one international) and asked about their views on the advertising that appeared on those pages

● Irish Internet users are eight times more likely to pay attention to online advertising on AOP Ireland sites than similar advertising on international sites - 78% vs 11%

● The findings underline the trust and loyalty that Irish internet users place in Irish premium content sites and how that influences the effectiveness of the advertising displayed on those digital properties

● In contrast Irish internet users disregard ads on international sites like DailyMail.co.uk, Gawker.com and Guardian.co.uk, despite the use of geo targeting by ad networks

● Despite being unprompted, when asked why they believed that ads on Irish premium content sites were of more relevance to them, the first reason 35% of all survey participants responded with was that the Irish origin of the site meant that they understood that the ads were aimed at them

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Executive summary

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Executive summary

● Using ad networks in order to guarantee a high level of exposure, does not provide the best return on investment as Irish internet users overlook Irish ads on international sites as they do not believe that they are targeted at them

● 78% of Irish internet users recognise that ads on AOP Ireland sites are relevant to them in contrast to only 11% who think that ads on international sites are aimed at them, despite geo targeting

● Irish internet users also have a higher level of recall of ads displayed on Irish premium content sites. 72% of users recall online ads on AOP Ireland sites compared to 52% on international sites

● Key reason why Irish Internet users have a higher level of recall and believe advertising is more relevant on AOP Ireland sites is because of the environment and context they appear in