Text Ads Beat Video Ads, Study Shows

F My Life: It's Funny, It's True, Except When It Happens to You

Video ads seem to be taking the internet marketing world by storm. I'm really not sure why they are so popular as I HATE having to sit through a video. I would much rather read an ad or an instruction manual on my own time than have to sit through a video.

Well, it seems that the rest of the world agrees with me, at least for now.

A recent study conducted by iPerceptions, a leading provider of web-focused analytics, confirms what I have suspected for a long time...video ads aren't that popular.

The study found that most web-surfers (a whopping 25%) are most likely to click on regular text advertisements. Display ads came in second place, with 20% of surfers likely to click on banners located on the right side of their screen. Only 12% were likely to click on top banners (can you say "banner blindness"?).

Surprisingly, the study showed that video ads are not that popular among most users. Only 11% of web surfers said they would be likely to click on a video advertisement. It seems that 25- to 34 year-olds show no special biad toward video. They are just as likely to click on a video ad as they are a text ad or a right and top banner. The only people who are possibly engaged by video ads are surfers under 25 years old. This demographic comprises nearly 1/3 of the video-ad viewing audience.

So think twice before you fire up your webcam or that Camtasia software. Perhaps the pen...or the keyboard...is mightier than the vid.