M Giles Phillips
Sep 7, 2018 · 1 min read

Elena thanks for your thoughtful response. Banner Blindness certainly impacts the CTR of embedded ads. It’s a very natural thing, too — our brains learn to filter out recurring noise when we do a visual search of familiar places. This is why some would say online advertising just doesn’t work at all.

I’m not expert on the stats, but I would challenge your numbers a bit. The 0.06% CTR number spans all types of display ads across multiple networks/platforms — not just Google AdWords. In contrast, AdWords CTR is commonly reported as ~2% and is 5%+ for popular mobile searches. That’s a huge % difference and gives insight into why platforms have moved towards ads that masquerade as primary content: they get a lot more clicks. Even though you’ve learned to spot sponsored posts, they probably still seem more legitimate to you than classic embedded display ads, and by the numbers, we click on them more often.

Another factor with all types of embedded ads of course is their ability to infiltrate your subconscious mind over time. Even though we’re really good at filtering them out, we do still perceive them. So while you might not click, they still may be influencing you. This is an area that needs more research, though.

Targeting is another discussion entirely — to me the big question is whether or not platforms should be more transparent about how they target stuff to users.

Thanks for reading!

    M Giles Phillips

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    Designer, Founder @subforum, Head of Design @forge_AI