Results of 'Brand Advertising Online in Germany' study

The study, building upon previous research which shows that click-through rates are extremely low across the world and have continually declined over the past few years, found that measuring campaign effectiveness using click-through rates (CTRs) alone under-values the ability of the online channel to build brands.

Key reasons why CTRs are not the right measure to evaluate online ad effectiveness:

• In Germany, CTRs decreased by 15% during 2009 and were at an average of only 0.11% in December 2009
  
• In August 2010, 85% of German internet users did not click on any display ad during the month and the impact of online display advertising is therefore never measured for these users by CTR
  
• Heavy clickers, who only accounted for 3% of the total German online population, generated 62% of all clicks
  
• Heavy clickers have very different demographics and behavioural profile from the mainstream German internet audience.

Commenting on the findings, Christoph Schuh, chief marketing officer of TOMORROW FOCUS AG says: "The study delivers evidence that the simple click rate as a metric for display advertising is misleading in evaluating campaign impact. The internet will still be more seen as a direct response channel if we don't establish a new currency that is able to measure the success of advertising effects like brand lift or engagement. We at TOMORROW FOCUS are working diligently on developing new metrics and will present them in 2011."

Display advertising is effective even in the face of minimal clicks on ads

comScore has conducted a series of ad effectiveness studies across Western Europe (Germany, UK, France, and Spain) which show that display advertising, despite a lack of clicks, can have a significant, positive impact on consumer behaviour:

• Display ads lifted visitation to the advertiser's website by 72% on average
  
• Display ads increased the likelihood of consumers conducting a trademark search query using the advertiser's branded terms by an average of 94%.

"If online media is to receive its fair share of branding spend, focus must shift away from the click to new metrics that better reflect both the quality of the creative as well as the multiple ways in which online ads can build brands," said Linda Abraham, comScore chief marketing officer. "It is essential that we begin to provide attribution for the impact online ads deliver not only when clicked but when they are viewed by an audience, which is why more holistic measurement of online advertising effectiveness has never been more important."

To download a free copy of the full report Brand Advertising Online in Germany - Is the 'click ' the right currency for display advertising effectiveness? in German or English, go to www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/Advertising_Beyond_Click.

About TOMORROW FOCUS

TOMORROW FOCUS AG is one of the leading internet media groups in Germany. The company is based in Munich and its shares are publicly traded on the stock exchange.

The group's business operations are divided into the three divisions: Transactions, Advertising and Technologies:

The Transactions division includes HOLIDAYCHECK, the group's hotel rating and holiday/travel booking portal, and ELITEPARTNER, a premium online dating portal. The Advertising division includes TOMORROW FOCUS Media, one of the leading German online marketing providers, marketing not only partner portals, such as CHIP Online, FAZ.NET, GUTEFRAGE.NET and MEINESTADT.DE, but also the Group's own internet portals, such as FOCUS Online, FINANZEN100, JAMEDA and NACHRICHTEN.DE. ADJUG LTD. is an online marketing provider for surplus advertising space with two online market places in the UK and Germany. The company is part of the Advertising division. Within the Technologies division, TOMORROW FOCUS TECHNOLOGIES GmbH (TFT) and CELLULAR GmbH provide comprehensive services for the stationary and mobile internet.

About DLD

DLD (Digital - Life - Design) is a global conference network on innovation, digital media, science and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration. Chairmen of DLD are publisher Hubert Burda and serial digital investor Yossi Vardi. DLD has been founded by Stephanie Czerny and Marcel Reichart in 2005. For more information, go to www.dld-conference.com/.