Embarrassing moments on Facebook; adorable cats dressed like Harry Potter; the news and noise around President Barack Obama's Nobel win - the Internet is full of distractions. Unfortunately for marketers, ads often aren't among them.
Ubiquitous online banner ads are being ignored by Web users, languishing in the margins of the screen. The problem bedevils some of the biggest Internet companies, and is something websites are trying to solve.
One of the most popular sites, Digg.com, unveiled a trial run of new ads last weekthat imitate the look of the site itself. Digg is a list of links to water-cooler fodder all over the Internet - from the informative to the inane. Users pick the most interesting links to display most prominently.
"Digg-fed content ads" let marketers take headlines that have already been featured on the site (thanks to users who "Digg it" by clicking on a box to signal their approval) and choose which ones to pull into their ad spaces. The theory is that if ads look like the rest of the site, users will be more likely to look at them.
A change is needed, however. Those banners urging viewers to "learn more" about retirement plans or "click here" to discover 10 secrets to a flat stomach aren't getting the message across. The number of U.S. Internet users who click on ads has fallen 50 per cent in just two years, according to research out this month from Comscore Inc., a firm that measures digital habits.
In 2007, almost one-third of those surfing the Web clicked on an ad. Now the figure sits at just 16 per cent, and the vast majority of those clicks are driven by an even smaller group. Less than one in 10 users are "natural born clickers" who account for most traffic to banner ads - the people most likely to click on ads are already inclined to do so.
"The more we can make advertising feel like a valuable experience ... the better it's going to work for advertisers, the more money we're going to make, the happier the Digg community will be," said Chas Edwards, Digg's chief revenue officer. The site's strength is that its content is vetted by real people, he said. Each headline listed there has a yellow box beside it showing how many users "Digg" the link. Users can also "bury" inappropriate or uninteresting links.
"Those yellow boxes, and the blue headlines that point to content, you can think of that as the native language of Digg, the vernacular."
The aim is to bring that vernacular to advertisers. A maker of hybrid cars, for example, could point to stories about green technology in its ad, just above its logo. If Digg users have enjoyed reviews of a new movie, a studio might put those links front and centre in its banner.
Other companies have tried to get away from banner ads by drawing in online viewers users in other ways, such as setting up Twitter accounts or Facebook pages for fictional spokespeople.
In the age of YouTube, online video also has ad potential. In Canada, viewers can catch up on TV shows on the CTV and Global websites, as long as they sit through embedded ads before each video. (CTV is owned by CTVglobemedia Inc., which also owns The Globe and Mail.) Digg's idea takes inspiration from Google's AdWords advertising. Google sells companies the rights to be associated with certain keywords, and have links to their sites come up in a sponsored list when those keywords are punched in. AdWords ads don't have flashy graphics or logos; they are designed to look just like the rest of Google's listings.
For now, the ads are only visible in a handful of markets, and only one company is part of the trial. A banner for the 2010 version of Symantec's Norton Antivirus software includes three links to stories about cyber crime and security that have appeared on Digg.
"We're looking forward to what we can learn from the Digg community," said Morgan Hudson, a senior manager of marketing services for Symantec. The company will evaluate the ads to gauge the response.
By mid-November, Digg's new ads will be visible to users everywhere. The site has already signed agreements with a handful of advertisers.
Mr. Edwards is hoping that the same thing that attracts people to Digg.com to click on links 90 million times every month, will also attract them to sponsors' ads.
"Our users would much rather we find native, organic advertising for Digg than just plastering up a bunch of banners," he said.
If it works, that could be a boon for advertisers. "You don't necessarily need people to click to your website, but you do want them to look at the ad," Mr. Edwards said.
That's good news for Digg: such sites depend on ad revenue, and even the most popular ones have been hit by a slump in ad sales over the last year. Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt told Reuters TV last week that the online ad market is headed for recovery. But even if advertisers are willing to spend again, they'll want ideas that work on the Web.
Mr. Edwards hopes the new ads have just that appeal. His bosses hope sponsors Digg it.
