Nielsen Wire: How Online Ad Campaign Success Varies by Site Type

Nielsen recently analyzed an online CPG campaign geared towards women 25-54 that ran across three ad networks and a women’s interest site. The study showed the campaign successfully reached its intended audience only 27 percent of the time and instead was most often viewed by older demographics outside of the desired group.

Even more surprising was the degree of variability between the different media sellers. Nielsen found that while the three ad networks reached the campaign’s intended audience 20-30 percent of the time, the women’s interest site, due to its audience composition, was most successful at delivering the intended audience. 

Reaching consumers wherever they are has become increasingly complicated with the proliferation of media platforms. The online industry’s continuing reliance on impressions, click-throughs and other metrics unique to the web has prevented true cross-platform comparisons. To-date, limited information has prevented marketers from understanding the audience exposed to their online ads, and an impression-based focus has allowed frequen-cies to reach levels that are causing waste and inefficiencies. Nielsen research has shown that virtually no relationship exists between clicks and brand metrics or offline sales.

For more on this case study, check Nielsen’s full report, Building Brands in a Cross-Platform World

[AMAZON]