September 10, 2003
Just an Online Minute

By Masha Geller

The second day of the IAB's Advertisers Forum is slightly less crowded than yesterday was, and there seem to be more people schmoozing in the lobby and in the exhibit hall than there are listening to the various panel presentations, but the conversations are just as spirited.

The conference also offered new findings from the IAB/Volvo/Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners "Sponsorship Effectiveness Survey," which sought to understand the branding value of advertising sponsorship on the Internet as well as the difference between the value of "true" sponsorship (when an ad is displayed exclusively on a site) as opposed to "common" sponsorship (when there is more than one advertiser on a page.)

The study tested a sample group of 1,514, half of whom were exposed to sponsorship ads from Volvo. Overall, the research demonstrated that "true" sponsorship produces considerable lift as compared to a negligible lift from "common" sponsorship. Specifically, "true" sponsorship produced a 6.1 point lift in brand consideration among those consumers exposed to the sponsorship. This lies in stark contrast to the absence of any lift in brand consideration for those consumers exposed to the "common" sponsorship ads. It should not surprise anyone that publishers are quite happy with the results of the research.