After almost 20 years of banner ads, who is clicking?

Banner ads first appeared on the screens of Internet users back in 1994. Since then they have evolved to be more interactive and eye-catching. But who is clicking on banner ads today?

An infographic produced by Killer Infographics for Prestige marketing reveals that those who click are:

- More likely to be age 55+;
- 71% are college graduates;
- 59% have a high-school education or less;
- 58% of those aged 15-24 have clicked on a banner ad.

Four in 10 people (39%) clicked on a banner ad because it either showed a product they were already interested in or the ad piqued their interest in a product they had not heard of before.

However, there were far more reasons given for not clicking on a banner ad including not wanting to be distracted from the task in hand (61%) or the fear of picking up a virus (55%).

Other reasons for Internet users avoiding banner ads include:

- 58% said banner ads were irrelevant;
- 57% were concerned about spam;
- 54% distrust most banner ads;
- 46% worry their screen will be overtaken with pop-up ads;
- 31% had to be 'in the mood' to click on an ad;
- Another 31% were wary of clicking on banner ads for fear they'd be tracked.

Tags: ad format, advertising, banner ads, consumer insight, infographic, Internet