Internet is a kind of media characterized by wider dissemination and higher ratio of arrivals at users. While newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, etc., dominated the 20th century, Internet must represent the 21st-century media.
Unlike the conventional...
Internet is a kind of media characterized by wider dissemination and higher ratio of arrivals at users. While newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, etc., dominated the 20th century, Internet must represent the 21st-century media.
Unlike the conventional mass media delivering the advertising messages one-way to consumers, Internet allows for a targeted customized advertising, which differentiates it most clearly from the conventional media. In addition, since a variety of advertising techniques on Internet are being tested and developed, consumers are exposed to innumerable types of advertisements flooding the Internet web pages. In fact, most of the advertisements on Internet adopt the 'CPM' (cost-per-thousand) mode whereby advertisers pay for each 1,000 clicks.
As data transmission speed and compression technology ever develops dizzily, it is deemed necessary to research into the contextual ads, among the diverse advertising techniques, served by major portals in Korea.
'Contextual ads' is a kind of advertising technique using a robot to analyze various on-line website contents and opt for the advertisements most fitting the nature of the contents or the most relevant ones. 'Contextual ads' which are not available on ordinary banner or keyword advertisements are now served by Google (AdSense), Overture (Contents Match), Daum (Clicks), Naver (SmartLink), etc. Contextual ads provide users with higher-relevant informative advertisements than the conventional searching ones, while allowing advertisers to select one among diverse advertising tools.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of such contextual ads. For this purpose, the researcher comparatively analyzed contextual and other ads to determine the differences of consumers' attitudes towards ads, products and their buying intention between the two, and thereby, tested the interactions among consumers' attitudes towards ads and products and their buying intention depending on their involvement in contents and products.
To this end, the researcher sampled on-line ads and then, categorized them into 2 types of contextual ads and 4 types of other ads (total 6 types) to design test websites for a questionnaire survey. The test web sites were transmitted via email to college students in their 20's; each participant was exposed once to only a single type of ads. Thus, 240 college students divided equally into 6 groups were exposed to each of 6 types of ads. The data collected from the survey were processed for T-test and two-way ANOVA.
The results of this study can be summarized as follows;
Contextual ads were significantly more effective than other ads in improving consumers' attitudes towards ads and products as well as their buying intention. When they were exposed to an informative ad relevant to contents, consumers were more likely to show a positive response with more buying intention. In addition, the effects of the contextual ads of higher involvement in contents were more significant than other ads in terms of consumers attitudes towards ads and products and their buying intention. And the higher the involvement in contents was, the involvement in product was higher. On the other hand, although consumers' attitudes towards ads did not significantly differ between contextual and other ads in case of high involvement in products, their attitudes towards product and buying intention differed significantly. Thus, contextual ads were proven more effective media than other ads.
This study attempted to measure the value of contextual ads as new and effective advertising technique, because they are served by major portals despite their shorter history, and thereby, proved through objective assessment that they are more effective than other ads in terms of consumers' attitudes towards ads and products and their buying intention. Lastly, it is hoped that this study will conduce to Internet marketers' on-line advertising performance and effects.