Who Are the Ad Clickers?

For all the success of the pay-per-click advertising model, which has made Google’s AdSense program such a booming success, I’ve always been curious about who actually clicks on ads – PPC or otherwise.

It’s certainly not me, and I’ve never come across anyone who admitted they enthusiasticallly clicked on AdSense ads because they were so relevant and useful.

But there are 10s of millions of people who are ad clickers. Who are these people? According to adpophenia, a study done by AOL Global Advertising suggested that 99% of U.S. online users don’t click on ads, and of the 1% who do click on ads, most only click once a month. It turns out the heavy clickers are mostly older women living in the Midwest U.S. Their biggest interest is sweepstakes.

So should advertisers be discouraged by low click-through rates? Are low click-through rates being ignored because they would puncture the bullishness now surrounding the online advertising market’s rapid growth?

The is: yes and no. If you’re an advertising looking to do targeted advertising while have a tight control on your spending, the PPC model is a solid way to go. Since it’s performance-based, you only pay if you generate some interest, which is why it’s so appealing.

For advertisers using vehicles other than PPC, online advertising is no different than traditional media in that it’s about building brand presence. People may not immediately act on your ad but the idea, in theory, is it registers because it’s relevant and targeted. What makes online different than traditional media is you can deliver ads in a much more effective and measurable way.

Still, it would be interesting to learn more about the clickers, and whether low click rates are a result of bad advertising, consumer behavior or other factors.

Technorati Tags: AdSense, Google, PPC