Online ads produce ‘better brand engagement’

Consumers are more than twice as likely to engage with brands through online marketing than print advertising, new research has revealed.

According to research by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), 40 per cent of brand interaction across major retailers is the result of internet marketing.

By comparison, only 19 per cent engage with print advertising from top brands including Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, while television results in 31 per cent engagement.

Although still seems to be some way to go before digital marketing spending catches up with other channels, despite the IAB concluding that online advertising is 16 times more effective.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, claims that there is still a “great discrepancy in terms of how much retailers are spending” and online consumer shopping trends.

“We hope that this latest Brand Engagement study will help retail advertisers fully appreciate the brand-building capabilities of online, and in turn increase the medium’s share of their marketing budgets,” he added.

Despite its high performance, the retailers were found to only devote 2.5 per cent of their entire media budget to online marketing.