Web vs. TV: Research Aims to Gauge Ads†

Goals Include Finding Optimal Mix of Media and Long-Term Results

Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2008 — When marketers buy ads on the Web, they can track everything from the number of clicks an ad receives from a certain ZIP Code to how long a person watches a video clip on a specific site.

But while those metrics help marketers gauge how successfully online ads lead to purchases in the short term, they don't reveal how the ads affect a brand's image over longer periods. And they don't help marketers compare an online ad's impact with that of a television ad.