Criteo, the personalised online advertising network, has a reassuring message to Internet marketers in search of validation.
Performance Display not only works, but also delivers far more value than most recognise. In short, Performance Display has come of age, asserts Criteo as it revealed the results of a study it commissioned from Nielsen and Mediametrie.
The study found that Performance Display ads – intelligent, personalised ads driven primarily by user behaviour and preferences – have a large market, attract richer users and don’t compete with search-based ads.
“Performance Display delivers measurable sales. People don’t only click on Performance Display ads, they purchase,” says Jonathan Wolf, Criteo’s Chief Product Officer.
Intelligent tracking software is key
Over the past few years, Performance Display ads have grown in popularity, giving the old classic banner display ads a new lease of life. What has changed is this: Contrary to the older generation banners, Performance Display feeds on “user intelligence to cherry-pick which users to target in priority, and at what cost.”
Many readers might have noticed the ads that seem to follow one across the Internet. For example, if you have bought a suit online, you might see ads for shoes follow you, even when you surf to different websites. Or, if you have bought an airline ticket to Melbourne, you could see ads for Melbourne hotels track you on the Internet for up to a few days. These are the personalised Performance Display ads enabled by smart software algorithms created by Criteo and the like.
Here are the major findings of the Nielsen/Mediametrie study, commissioned to answer several more questions in the minds of Internet marketers:
- Mass audience. Performance Display ads have phenomenal reach. Criteo’s campaigns for advertisers reached 850 million unique users in a month (September 2013 ) – more than Google’s search network but behind Google’s own display ad network.
- Good click-throughs. At least 19.4% of Internet users clicked on at least one Criteo ad during a two-month period.
- Richer dads, older dads. The people who clicked on Criteo’s Performance Display ads were richer with annual incomes of over $75,000, predominantly older than 35 and 70% male.
- Complements search-based ads. 65% of display clickers did not click on a search ad in the same vertical, indicating that Performance Display ads do not compete with search ads.
- Big buyers. Performance Display ads show an increased intent on expensive “big ticket” products such as automobiles or real estate.
In the study, Nielsen and Médiamétrie tracked real-world users in France and the United States for two months last year. Download the report here. Check out an infographic here.
