Nielsen//NetRatings Reports First-Ever Global Rankings Of Top Ad Banners
First-Ever Look at Web Advertising
Worldwide Shows Strong Efforts by US
Advertisers and Global Properties to Reach Local Web Audiences
New Zealand and Ireland Lead the World in Click Rates for Ad Banners
STAMFORD, CT – August 15, 2000 – Nielsen//NetRatings, the world’s fastest growing Internet audience measurement service, today released the first-ever rankings of the top ad banners in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The results showed a strong advertising presence by global web properties, and a correlation between advertising by global properties and the top-ranked property in each country.
Nielsen//NetRatings is a service provided by ACNielsen eRatings.com (a venture between ACNielsen Corp., NYSE: ART and NetRatings, Inc., Nasdaq: NTRT), Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc.
The findings are from Nielsen//NetRatings’ unique BannerTrack™ service, which reports on top banner ads by impression, domain, and company. Findings for the month of June cover eight major Internet markets worldwide, and reveal heavy ad buys by major Internet companies in most overseas markets. Global properties Yahoo! and MSN ran heavy ad schedules – primarily on their own properties – in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK (see Table 1). At the same time, those properties ranked first or second in terms of unique audience in each market for the month of June, according to Nielsen//NetRatings’ audience measurement service.
“MSN and Yahoo! have dominated the Nielsen//NetRatings global properties rankings. While their success in drawing large local audiences is tied to their careful attention to local content, we cannot discount their heavy advertising, which focuses on such value-added services as instant messaging, sports, travel and shopping pages,” said David Day, director of analytical services, ACNielsen eRatings.com. “Their heavy ad banner schedules also show a greater faith in the effectiveness of the Internet as an advertising medium. More traditional brick and mortar companies, who are barely visible in the banner rankings, appear to still be reluctant to target consumers online.”
Table 1: Top Five Ad Banners Viewed At-Home, June 2000
Top advertisers, ranked according to reach percentage, are based on data from BannerTrack™, Nielsen//NetRatings’ syndicated advertising research report. Percentage reach is defined as the number of unique web users that viewed a web banner at least once in the month of June, expressed as a percentage of the total web population of the country.
AUSTRALIA, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Carpoint.com.au |
14.50 |
Auto reviews. Auto quotes. Auto everything. Carpoint.com.au |
|
Carpoint.com.au |
14.50 |
Thousands of cars with just a few clicks. Carpoint.com.au |
|
Carpoint.com.au |
14.50 |
Click and drag. Carpoint.com.au |
|
HealthAllies.com |
11.40 |
Need help understanding your medical bill? Click here for more information. HealthAllies.com – Reducing Medical Costs |
|
Shopnow.com |
11.36 |
Flowers and gifts galore – at your fingertips. 48,000 stores – 1 site. Shopnow.com |
CANADA, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
MSN Messenger Service |
21.24 |
Instant Excuses. MSN Messenger Service – free instant messaging |
|
MSN Messenger Service |
21.02 |
Instant Alarm. MSN Messenger Service – free instant messaging |
|
MSN Messenger Service |
20.92 |
Instant Plans. MSN Messenger Service – free instant messaging |
|
MSN Hotmail |
14.07 |
Overloaded with junk mail? Activate your inbox protector today! Click here – MSN Hotmail |
|
Aria |
13.23 |
Instant Approval, Instant Savings – Apply Now – 0% Intro APR |
IRELAND, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Web Ireland |
24.12 |
Web Ireland National Internet Business Awards – Entries Now Open |
|
ElectricNews.net |
15.41 |
Get Irish Technology News Straight to your Inbox– enn – ElectricNews.net |
|
Microsoft Windows Technologies |
14.31 |
Microsoft Windows Technologies – Internet Explorer |
|
Paddypower.com |
13.54 |
Paddypower.com Online Betting |
|
Paddypower.com |
12.53 |
Paddypower.com Online Betting |
JAPAN, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Yahoo! Japan |
18.05 |
Join! Yahoo! Japan Geocities |
|
Yahoo! Japan |
17.65 |
Have your own home page with Yahoo! Geocities |
|
Yahoo! Japan |
17.03 |
Free home page, free e-mail |
|
Yahoo! Japan |
16.87 |
It’s easy! |
|
Inter Q |
14.68 |
Domain registration service – would you like to try searching your name? |
NEW ZEALAND, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
MSN New Zealand |
16.37 |
The Web on one page -- MSN New Zealand |
|
Microsoft Windows Technologies |
13.69 |
Microsoft Windows Technologies Internet Explorer |
|
MSN New Zealand |
10.50 |
The Best Way to the Internet – MSN New Zealand |
|
Bonzi Software |
9.83 |
Your Internet Connection is not Optimized. Download InternetBOOST ’99 Now! |
|
MSN Hotmail |
9.02 |
Overloaded with junk mail? Activate your inbox protector today! MSN Hotmail |
SINGAPORE, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Yahoo! Singapore Finance |
18.51 |
Yahoo! Singapore Finance |
|
Yahoo! Messenger |
13.51 |
Know when your friends are online! Download Yahoo! Messenger for instant messages. |
|
MSN |
13.11 |
MSN – the everyday Web – prices and updates all day long – visit our money channel |
|
MSN Hotmail |
12.08 |
Overloaded with junk mail? Activate your inbox protector today! MSN Hotmail |
|
Yahoo! Messenger |
11.96 |
Yahoo! Messenger gives you instant messages |
UNITED KINGDOM, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Microsoft Windows Technologies |
13.12 |
Microsoft Windows Technologies Internet Explorer |
|
MSN Football Channel |
8.15 |
From terrace to dugout – we’ve got it all. The Football Channel |
|
MSN Travel Channel |
7.83 |
Planning a trip? Travel Channel |
|
MSN Personal Finance Channel |
7.46 |
Calculate, compare, invest, spend. Personal Finance Channel |
|
MSN Shopping Channel |
7.36 |
The mall is dead. Shopping Channel |
UNITED STATES, June 2000
|
Advertiser |
Reach % |
Creative |
|
Bonzi Software |
13.45 |
Your Internet Connection is not Optimized. Download InternetBOOST ’99 Now! |
|
Aria |
13.42 |
Instant Approval. Instant Savings. Apply now – 0% Intro APR |
|
Network Solutions |
11.68 |
Want a Web Address? Type it here! |
|
Yahoo! Stock Market Toolbar |
11.00 |
Get the Yahoo! stock market toolbar – click here! |
|
Yahoo! Companion |
10.75 |
Add Yahoo! to your browser. Click here to get Yahoo! companion |
Day pointed to the heavy advertising by MSN in Canada – with each ad reaching an impressive 20% or more of the web population – as evidence of the strong correlation between advertising and top-property status. MSN was the top property in Canada for June, reaching 53% of the Internet universe and a unique audience of 4,278,000. Within the MSN property, the messenger service, which the property heavily advertised in June, ranked as the 27th most visited page.
“In Canada, MSN is growing beyond its strong position in free email services, using advertising to boost traffic to the messenger service, positioning that capability as an opportunity for growth,” Day said. “The messenger service for Canada drew nearly 60% of its traffic from females, and a majority in the 25-34 year old age range. The demographics of the visitors to the messenger service’s top-rated banner ad in Canada were also majority female, but with a slimmer, 53% margin, and with the majority in the much younger 12-17 year old age range.”
Day also noted that the opposite seemed true in Australia, where dot-com advertising appeared to sweep the month. However, a closer look at Carpoint.com.au, the ad banner that won the first three spots in that country in terms of percentage reach, but was the 326th most visited site in Australia for June, reveals that the site is a member of the ninemsn family. ninemsn is an online joint venture between the Microsoft Corporation and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL).
“Despite initial appearances in Australia, the same trend of heavy advertising by global properties holds true there for June,” Day said. “Carpoint.com.au is a site that provides one-stop research and shopping for cars. A look at their media schedule reveals that the banner ran exclusively on MSN properties throughout the month. It’s also interesting to note the heavy emphasis on e-Commerce advertising in Australia, which may indicate a push on the part of advertisers to influence a large market where e-Commerce is surprisingly underdeveloped.”
Nielsen//NetRatings also measures the average click rate for ad banners by country. Day pointed to the June results, which cited New Zealand and Ireland surfers as having the highest average click rate for ad banners, versus Canada with the lowest click rate (see Table 2).
“The results are interesting given the recent concern in the US over the perceived ineffectiveness of banner advertising,” he said. “US consumers actually click on ad banners with greater frequency than consumers in the UK, Australia, Singapore and Canada. Since the US has the most mature Internet audience in the world right now, these results underscore the effectiveness of banner ads by demonstrating that even consumers who have had a high amount of exposure to Internet advertising continue to interact with the banners.”
Table 2. Average Click Rate for Home Surfers
Click rate indicates the frequency with which the average Internet user clicked on ad banners.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
Through
strategic partnerships between NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research and
ACNielsen, the Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement service collects
real-time data from more than 150,000 Internet users around the world.
The U.S. panel sample currently consists of 57,000 at-home users and
8,000 at-work users. International panels are under development with
over 85,000 at-home users currently being measured. These panels collectively
represent the largest media research sample of Internet users in the
industry.
Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology capable of measuring both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information in the global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the entire spectrum of Internet user behavior, leveraging proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen’s international leadership in offering market research information covering more than 100 countries.
About ACNielsen eRatings.com
ACNielsen
eRatings.com is a venture between ACNielsen (NYSE: ART) and NetRatings
Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT). ACNielsen is the world's leading market research
firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer
attitudes and behavior, and new and traditional media in more than 100
countries, and NetRatings is the leading provider of Internet audience
measurement technology and analysis. Through the Nielsen//NetRatings
service, ACNielsen eRatings.com is creating the first global service
for tracking audiences, advertising and user activity on the Internet
in more than 30 countries worldwide.
About NetRatings, Inc.
NetRatings
(Nasdaq: NTRT) provides Internet audience measurement and analysis services
that enable its customers to make informed decisions regarding their
Internet strategies. NetRatings delivers accurate and timely information
collected from a representative sample of Internet users and augments
it with detailed, flexible reporting and in-depth analyses.
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