The Medium Is Not the Message: Advertising Effectiveness and Content Evaluation in Print and on the Web

TLDR

Some have argued that traditional mass media advertising principles may not apply on the web. The study empirically tests and refutes the claim that web advertising differs fundamentally from print, and proposes an explanation for the observed paradox. The authors propose a plausible explanation for the paradox that web and print ads can be equally effective. When exposure is equal, print and web ads are equally effective, but promotional material not classified as advertising performs worse on the web, suggesting advertisers need not exploit web‑specific features for effectiveness.

Abstract

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> Some have argued that traditional principles of mass media advertising do not apply on the web. We present an empirical study that contradicts this assertion. Our findings suggest that advertisers need not take full advantage of the enhanced capabilities of the medium to produce effective web advertising. Given equal opportunity for exposure to the target audience, the same advertisements were equally effective in print and on the web. However, for promotional material that consumers would not classify as advertising, evaluations were lower when the material was presented on the web. We propose a plausible explanation for this apparent paradox.