Standardization and the Effectiveness of Online Advertising
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Tucker_Standardization and.pdf
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370.04 KB
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Author(s)
Goldfarb, Avi
Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth
Date Issued
December 2014
Journal
Management Science
Publisher
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Citation
Goldfarb, Avi and Tucker, Catherine E. “Standardization and the Effectiveness of Online Advertising.” Management Science 61, no. 11 (November 2015): 2707–2719 © 2015 Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
The technological transformation and automation of digital content delivery has revolutionized the media industry. Increased reliance on automation has also led to requirements for standardization of content-delivery formats. This paper examines how the memorability of banner advertising changed with the introduction of new standards regularizing its format. Using data from randomized field tests, we find evidence that for most ads, ad effectiveness falls as the use of standard formats rises. The decline is smaller when a standardized ad appears to be more original (such as ads created by an ad agency). Therefore, a likely explanation is that increased use of a standard format makes it harder for basic ads to distinguish themselves from their competition because the ad format commands less attention.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2016
