Über Clickers Distort Click-Rates

This PR about a display click rates from Starcom and others is very interesting. I will have to try to get a copy of the full study and report. Looks like the über clickers (or should be call them super clickers?) are distorting reality… Not sure this is good news for online advertising. My initial thought is we will likely need and see wider studies on general “conversion attribution” of online advertising – ie, you need a solid mix of ads (including display) as this helps drive conversion on your search both paid and natural, etc… Quoting directly from the PR:

Starcom, Tacoda and comScore’s “Natural Born Clickers” findings suggest “the click is dead” as go-to measurement of effectiveness for brand-building display advertising campaigns

The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.