The Halo Effect: How Advertising on Premium Publishers Drives Higher Ad Effectiveness

Comscore conducted research to examine the branding effectiveness of digital display and video ads appearing on Digital Content Next (DCN) member sites, a group of brand name media generally considered to be “premium publishers,” as compared to other publishers. The research demonstrates that premium publisher do drive higher brand lift effectiveness due in large part to the ‘halo effect’ of the contextual environment in which ads are seen.

Key findings from the study can be summarized as follows:

• Display and video ads on DCN premium publisher sites had an average of 67% higher brand lift than non-DCN publishers, confirming that premium sites deliver premium performance.
• Premium publishers are more than 3x more effective in driving mid-funnel brand lift metrics, such as favorability, consideration and intent to recommend.
• Premium publisher effectiveness is driven in part by higher viewability rates which include lower levels of invalid traffic.

By: Andrew Lipsman