CTRs may be low, but the post almost ignores impressions, which are much harder to quantify but still having some value[0]. Of course, with the proliferation of small devices, ad plug-ins, and the general 'banner ad blindness' of a population that is increasingly familiar with the Internet, it's all probably still dropping in value.<p>I disagree with those who assume it's all useless because they've never personally clicked on any ads (<i>"After all it’s a $16 Billion market. Nobody would spend that much money, without any realistic returns"</i>), but the trends are also pretty clear. Sometimes I feel like retargeting is the last great scheme to squeeze more conversion out of the whole model. But there will probably be at least a couple more...<p>[0]<a href="http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/10487-view-through-attribution-exposed" rel="nofollow">http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/10487-view-through-attributi...</a>
At www.optimine.com we are doing some interesting stuff to address the abysmal CTR of display ads.<p>The key is to measure the effect that your display ads are having on your paid search ads, ie measure the "brand effect" impact on purchase decisions.<p>The direct effect of banners ads is negligible, but that is missing the point. Nobody clicks on a Coca-Cola TV ad, but they aren't going to stop TV ads anytime soon.
Are any of those statistics actually true? I see TONS of ads all the time. In aggregate, aren't I more likely to click on a banner add than be accepted to Harvard and Stanford? Or are they saying for any one display add I see, I am more likely to blah blah blah than click the ad?