1. 2009 Year-in-Review Benchmarks
A DoubleClick Report
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ......................................................2
Static Image and Flash Benchmarks ......................3
Rich Media Ad Benchmarks .......................................5
Benchmarks Comparison 2008 vs. 2009 ............14
Worldwide Overall Performance Norms .................16
2. White Paper | DoubleCilck
2009 Year-in-Review Benchmarks
The DoubleClick Benchmarks Report is a free report of industry benchmarks that
About DoubleClick helps advertisers, agencies, and publishers evaluate the performance of online
Google’s DoubleClick products provide ad
™
management and ad serving solutions to display advertising campaigns in the U.S., relative to industry norms.
companies that buy, create or sell online
DoubleClick benchmarks are derived from a robust data set of metrics across
advertising. The world’s top marketers, publishers,
ad networks and agencies use DoubleClick DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA), based on rigorous methodology with input
products as the foundation for their online from the Advertising Research Foundation. This data set includes hundreds of
advertising businesses. With deep expertise in advertisers, thousands of campaigns, and tens of billions of ad impressions.
ad serving, media planning, search management,
rich media, video and mobile, our DoubleClick Data shown here represent activity of a wide range of ad formats for DFA
products help customers execute their digital advertisers in the United States unless otherwise indicated. For all benchmarks
media strategy more effectively. provided in this report, the data are from January 2009 to December 2009.
For more information visit:
Executive Summary
www.doubleclick.com
Overall U.S. campaign performance norms for 2009 across DoubleClick image,
Flash, and rich media campaigns are as follows:
Click-through Rate (CTR) 0.10% Video Complete Rate 50%
Interaction Rate 2.54% Average Display Time 34.6 secs
Average Interaction Time 9.0 secs Average Expanding Time 4.7 secs
Expansion Rate 2.8%
Key Observations:
Ad size correlates with clicks and interaction rates. As in previous years, we have
observed that ad size is somewhat correlated with click-through rate. This is also
true with interaction rates except for one anomaly – the ad size that has the highest
interaction rate overall is the square pop-under (250x250), although it’s important
to note this size is one of the least common creative sizes served through DFA.
Static ads and flash ad click-through rates remained relatively stable from 2008
to 2009. In 2009, static ads perform slightly better than flash ads in terms of click-
throughs when you compare them by creative size. However when you compare
them by industry vertical there was virtually no difference in click-through rates
between static and flash ads. This suggests that differences in click-through rates
between flash and static ads are due more to ad vertical rather than format.
We also observed that expansion rates declined from 2008 to 2009 while overall
interaction rates increased in 2009.
DFA Impressions by Creative Type
Data on the distribution of impressions by type of creative format was a popular
request in response to last year’s benchmarks report so we included this
information in the report this year. Note that as with other benchmarks in this
report, this data reflects impressions served through the DoubleClick for
Advertisers platform.
2
3. 2009 DFA Impressions
Image 20%
Rich Media In-page 5%
Rich Media Expanding 2%
Rich Media Video 2%
Rich Media In-page Video 2%
Flash 69%
Source: DoubleClick Benchmarks, U.S. DFA campaigns, January – December 2009
Static Image Ads and Flash Ads Benchmarks
Overall Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Static Ads 0.10%
Flash Ads 0.09%
Figure 1: Click-through Rate by Creative Sizes for Static Image and Flash Ads
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 0.09%
0.10%
Vertical Rectangle: 240x400 0.19%
0.28%
Verical Banner: 120x240 0.05%
0.06%
Square Pop-Up: 250x250 0.16%
0.23%
Skyscraper: 120x600 0.07%
0.10%
Rectangle: 180x150 0.09%
0.11%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 0.10%
0.12%
Leaderboard: 728x90 0.08%
0.09%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 0.09%
0.14%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 0.18%
0.17%
Half Banner: 234x60 0.06%
0.06%
Full Banner: 468x60 0.05%
0.08%
3:1 Rectangle: 300x100 0.05%
0.06%
0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Flash click-through rate% Static click-through rate%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, a cross section of major ad sizes only,
January – December 2009
3
4. Figure 2: Click-Through Rate for Static Image and Flash Ads by Industry Vertical
Auto 0.15%
0.14%
Brands 0.10%
0.12%
B2B 0.08%
0.09%
Classified and Local 0.07%
0.10%
CPG 0.09%
0.10%
Financial Services 0.06%
0.07%
Media/Entertainment 0.10%
0.11%
Retail 0.08%
0.11%
Tech 0.09%
0.12%
Telecom 0.06%
0.07%
Travel 0.08%
0.09%
Wellness 0.08%
0.11%
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
Flash click-through rate% Static click-through rate%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, a cross section of major industry verticals only,
January – December 2009
4
5. Rich Media Ad Benchmarks
• Preface: A Primer on Evaluating Rich Media Ad Metrics
• Overall Rich Media Performance Norms
• Click-through Rate
• Interaction Rate and Expansion Rate
• Average Display Time, Interaction Time, and Expanding Time
• Video Complete Rate
Preface: A Primer on Evaluating Rich Media Ad Metrics
A rich media ad unit can inspire a range of responses from users — not every click in a rich media unit
produces a click-through. When a viewer clicks on a rich media unit, a number of outcomes are possible,
including expanding the unit, playing a video or otherwise interacting with the unit. The call-to-action
for a viewer to click-through competes with all other possible forms of interaction within the unit. As a
result, click-through rates can be lower for rich media than for other forms of online advertising where the
clickthrough is the only form of user interaction.
The objective of rich media ads isn’t always to drive clicks — they are often used to provide users with
an experience within the ad itself. Therefore, engagement metrics such as interaction rates, interactions
times, video completion, and expansions are important measures of the success of such ads. Also
keep in mind that conversion activity can happen within the ad unit itself: A click could result in the user
downloading a report from the ad unit, signing up for more information through a form on the ad unit,
locating a product by zip code, or playing a video within the ad unit. Advertisers should consider the goals
of the campaign at hand, and evaluate the performance of their campaigns based on the most relevant
rich media ad metric.
Overall Rich Media Performance Norms
Click-through Rate (CTR) 0.10% Video Complete Rate 50%
Interaction Rate 2.5% Average Display Time 34.6 secs
Average Interaction Time 8.9 secs Average Expanding Time 4.7 secs
Expansion Rate 2.8%
Key Observations
Differences between non-video and video for rich media in-page ads in terms of interaction rate were not
considerably different (see figure 7), except for the large rectangle where video outperformed non-video
by a large margin (4.0% vs. 2.7% respectively).
In-page video click-through rate was down for half-page ad size, from 0.3% in 2008 down to 0.1% in
2009. The other ads sizes remained relatively the same from year to year.
In contrast to the 2008 benchmarks where we saw video outperform non-video ads across the board,
we observed that in 2009 non-video rich media expanding ads performed better than video ads both in
terms of interaction and expansion rates. (Figures 14 and 15).
Video completes for rich media in-page went down a little over 6% from 2008 to 2009 from 62.3% in in
2008 to 56.3% in 2009 (see page 13).
Compared to 2008 benchmarks we found that in 2009 more people interacted with and expanded rich
media ads but the time they spent interacting, expanding or finishing a video ad has declined from 2008.
Increases in overall rich media metrics – 2008 to 2009
• Rich media average display time increased from 32.1 secs to 34.6 secs
• Rich media click-through rate went up from 0.09% to 0.11%
• Rich media interaction rate rose from 2.1% to 2.5%
• Rich media expansion rate rose from 2.5% to 2.8%
5
6. Declines in overall rich media metrics – 2008 to 2009
• Average interaction time from 10.3 secs to 9.0 secs
• Video complete rate from 54.5% to 50.0%
• Average expanding time from 6.5 secs to 4.7 secs
Click-through Rate by DoubleClick Rich Media Format
Video exhibits higher click-through rates than non-video for both in-page as well as expanding rich
media formats.
Figure 3: Click-through Rate by DoubleClick Rich Media Format
0.14
0.12 0.1 1% 0.11%
0.10% 0.10%
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media
Expanding (Non-video) Expanding (Video) In-page (Non-video) In-page (Video)
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in-page and expanding formats only,
January – December 2009
Click-through Rate (CTR) by Creative Size for in-page and Expanding DoubleClick Rich Media Formats
Figure 4: DoubleClick Rich Media in-page Click-through Rate for video and non-video
0.10%
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 0.12%
Skyscraper: 120x600 0.13%
0.11%
Rectangle: 180x150 0.36%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 0.12%
0.14%
Leaderboard: 728x90 0.06%
0.08%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 0.12%
0.09%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 0.11%
0.20%
Full Banner: 468x60 0.05%
0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
Video click-through rate% Non-video click-through rate%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in-page format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
6
7. Figure 5: DoubleClick Rich Media Expandable Click-through Rate for video and non-video
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 0.11%
0.09%
Skyscraper: 120x600 0.10%
0.07%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 0.12%
0.12%
Leaderboard: 728x90 0.08%
0.08%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 0.15%
0.13%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 0.18%
0.22%
0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
Video click-through rate% Non-video%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
Interaction and Expansion Rates
Non-video rich media expanding ads have both a higher expansion rate and a higher interaction rate
compared to video ads and in-page non-video ads.
Figure 6: Interaction Rate and Expansion Rate by DoubleClick Rich Media Format
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.99%
3.50
3.08% 3.09%
3.00
2.56%
2.50 2.21% 2.27%
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media
In-page (Non-video) Expanding (Non-video) In-page (Video) Expanding (Video)
Interaction Rate % Expansion Rate %
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in page and expanding formats only,
January – December 2009
7
8. Interaction Rate by Creative Size
Figure 7: DoubleClick Rich Media in-page Interaction Rate for video and non-video
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 2.4%
2.3%
1.9%
Skyscraper: 120x600 1.7%
Rectangle: 180x150 1.2%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 2.8%
2.5%
Leaderboard: 728x90 1.7%
1.8%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 4.0%
2.7%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 4.1%
4.5%
Full Banner: 468x60 0.7%
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Video interaction rate % Non-video interaction rate %
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in-page format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
Interaction Rate and Expansion Rate by Creative Size
Figure 8: DoubleClick Rich Media Expandable Interaction Rate for video and non-video
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 2.9%
2.9%
Skyscraper: 120x600 1.3%
2.9%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 3.4%
4.5%
Leaderboard: 728x90 2.7%
3.9%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 4.0%
5.2%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 4.6%
6.9%
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0
Video interaction rate % Non-video interaction rate %
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
8
9. Figure 9: DoubleClick Rich Media Expandable Expansion Rate for video and non-video
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 1.8%
2.4%
Skyscraper: 120x600 2.3%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 2.1%
3.0%
Leaderboard: 728x90 2.8%
3.5%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 2.9%
4.3%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 1.3%
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Video Expansion Rate % Non-video Expansion Rate %
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
Figure 10: Click-through Rate by Industry Vertical for DoubleClick Rich Media Format
Auto 0.15%
B2B 0.08%
CPG 0.09%
Financial Services 0.06%
Media/Entertainment 0.10%
Retail 0.09%
Tech 0.10%
Telecom 0.07%
Travel 0.08%
Wellness 0.09%
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media formats only, a cross section of major industry
verticals only, January – December 2009
9
10. Figure 11: Interaction Rate, and Expansion Rate by Industry Vertical for DoubleClick Rich Media Format
Auto 2.0%
2.2%
B2B 8.4%
6.3%
CPG 3.5%
3.1%
Financial Services 3.5%
2.9%
Media/Entertainment 1.7%
2.7%
Retail 2.4%
3.0%
Tech 3.5%
2.5%
Telecom 2.9%
2.4%
Travel 2.4%
2.5%
Wellness 3.4%
3.8%
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0
Expansion Rate % Interaction Rate%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media formats only, a cross section of major industry
verticals only, January – December 2009
Figure 12: Average Display Time (secs), Interaction Time (secs), and Expanding Time (secs)
by DoubleClick Rich Media Format
45.00
40.00 38.37
35.24
35.00
32.62 30.92
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.12 10.8
10.00 8.05
6.16
5.00 4.24 3.56
0.00
DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media DoubleClick Rich Media
In-page (Non-video) Expanding (Non-video) In-page (Video) Expanding (Video)
Average Interaction Time
Average Display Time
Average Expanding Time
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
10
11. Average Display Time, Interaction Time, and Expanding Time by Creative Size and Rich Media Format
Figure 13: DoubleClick Rich Media in-page Average Display Time (secs) for video and non-video
36.6
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 33.8
35.4
Skyscraper: 120x600 36.6
Rectangle: 180x150 29.0
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 37.9
34.9
Leaderboard: 728x90 40.3
36.2
Large Rectangle: 336x280 53.2
54.8
Half Page Ad: 300x600 41.3
38.4
Full Banner: 468x60 35.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 (secs)
Video Average Display Time
Non-video Average Display Time
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in-page format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
Figure 14: DoubleClick Rich Media in-page Average Interaction Time (secs) for Video and non-video
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 11.1
9.7
10.5
Skyscraper: 120x600 10.5
Rectangle: 180x150 5.2
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 10.5
10.3
Leaderboard: 728x90 11.8
10.2
11.9
Large Rectangle: 336x280 13.1
Half Page Ad: 300x600 14.2
11.4
Full Banner: 468x60 10.5
0 5 10 15 (secs)
Video Average Interaction Time
Non-video Average Interaction Time
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
11
12. Figure 15: DoubleClick Rich Media Expandable non-video
Average Display Time (secs), Expanding Time (secs), and Interaction Time (secs)
5.3
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 4.6
29.6
5.3
Skyscraper: 120x600 6.6
30.5
4.7
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 4.0
32.4
3.2
Leaderboard: 728x90 2.6%
34.0
4.3
Large Rectangle: 336x280 5.4
45.3
7.6
Half Page Ad: 300x600 3.2
53.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 (secs)
Average Interaction Time
Average Expanding Time
Average Display Time
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
Figure 16: DoubleClick Rich Media Expandable Video
Average Display Time (secs), Expanding Time (secs), and Interaction Time (secs)
6.1
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 9.5
27.6
Skyscraper: 120x600 6.5
28.9
6.8
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 7.8
30.8
5.0
Leaderboard: 728x90 7.8
32.4
5.7
Large Rectangle: 336x280 9.3
51.1
8.5
Half Page Ad: 300x600 11.9
29.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 (secs)
Average Interaction Time
Average Expanding Time
Average Display Time
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media expanding format only, a cross section of standard ad
sizes only, January – December 2009
12
13. Video Complete Rate
DoubleClick Rich Media Expanding 38.5 DoubleClick Rich Media in-page 56.3%
Figure 17: Video Complete Rate for DoubleClick Rich Media in-page (Video) and Expandable (Video)
by Creative Size
Wide Skyscraper: 160x600 40.0%
60.8%
Skyscraper: 120x600 34.4%
66.8%
Medium Rectangle: 300x250 40.2%
54.7%
Leaderboard: 728x90 35.1%
59.7%
Large Rectangle: 336x280 37.5%
61.8%
Half Page Ad: 300x600 42.3%
39.8%
0 20 40 60 80
Expandable Video Complete Rate %
In-page Video Complete Rate %
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media in-page and expanding formats only, a cross section
of standard ad sizes only, January – December 2009
Figure 18: Video Complete Rate by Industry Vertical
Auto 61.5%
B2B 34.1%
CPG 48.8%
Financial Services 46.2%
Media/Entertainment 35.9%
Retail 21.2%
Tech 56.0%
Telecom 46.7%
Travel 42.0%
Wellness 23.1%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, U.S. advertisers, DoubleClick Rich Media video format only, a cross section of major verticals
only, January – December 2009
13
14. U.S. Benchmarks Comparison – 2008 vs. 2009
Figure 19: Overall Click-through Rates by Month for 2008 and 2009
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 0.12% 0.11% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.09% 0.10% 0.10% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09%
2009 0.12% 0.11% 0.10% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.10% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09% 0.09%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers U.S. campaigns, January 2008 – December 2009
Click-through rates tend to spike in January, possibly due to shoppers responding to post-holiday sales.
Otherwise, click-through rates overall tend to be consistent throughout the rest of year and similar to
click-through rates in 2008.
Figure 20: Overall Interaction Rates by Month for 2008 and 2009
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0.00
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 1.84% 1.77% 1.66% 1.81% 2.44% 2.38% 2.43% 2.35% 2.31%
2009 2.96% 2.90% 2.79% 2.72% 2.52% 2.57% 2.60% 2.53% 2.32% 2.29% 2.28% 2.27%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers campaigns, April 2008 – December 2009. In February 2008, DoubleClick upgraded the
methodology for counting interaction impressions and interaction times; benchmark data is available using this methodology
beginning April 2008.
Interaction rates have increased considerably in Q2 of 2009 year over year. They are stable across years
in the second half of the year.
14
15. Figure 21: Overall Expansion Rates by Month for 2008 and 2009
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 1.85% 1.95% 1.89% 1.64% 1.96% 2.03% 2.37% 3.57% 3.49% 3.48% 3.38% 3.39%
2009 3.48% 3.64% 3.47% 3.04% 2.78% 2.89% 2.71% 2.80% 2.27% 1.97% 2.20% 2.14%
Expansion rates were generally declining from 2008 to 2009 but by the end of 2009, they were coming
back to their levels in early 2008.
Figure 22: Overall Interaction Time (secs) by Month for 2008 and 2009
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 11.6 11.9 11.9 11.2 9.2 9.3 9.1 9.1 9.2 (secs)
2009 8.1 8.0 8.2 8.5 8.9 8.7 9.2 9.3 9.5 9.7 9.5 9.7 (secs)
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers campaigns, April 2008 – December 2009. In February 2008, DoubleClick upgraded the
methodology for counting interaction impressions and interaction times; benchmark data is available using this methodology
beginning April 2008.
While overall interaction times were declining month to month in 2008, we saw a steady increase in
overall interaction times in 2009.
15
16. Worldwide Overall Performance Norms
Figure 23: Overall Worldwide Click-Through Rates across Static Image, Flash and Rich Media Formats
Region Overall Click-Through Rate
North America
Canada 0.09%
United States 0.10%
EMEA
Austria 0.11%
Belgium 0.13%
Denmark 0.12%
Finland 0.05%
France 0.12%
Germany 0.11%
Greece 0.17%
Ireland 0.10%
Italy 0.10%
Luxembourg 0.09%
Netherlands 0.14%
Norway 0.11%
Spain 0.12%
Sweden 0.08%
Switzerland 0.12%
United Arab Emirates 0.18%
United Kingdom 0.07%
JAPAC
Australia 0.07%
China 0.12%
Hong Kong 0.17%
India 0.18%
Malaysia 0.30%
Singapore 0.19%
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, a cross section of regions, January – December 2009
16
17. Figure 24: DoubleClick Rich Media Metrics Across a Cross-Section of Regions
Country Interaction Expansion Video Complete Average Interaction Average Expanding Average Display
Rate (%) Rate (%) Rate (%) Time (secs) Time (secs) Time (secs)
North America
Canada 5.3% 6.4% 66.9% 6.6 4.4 47.1
United States 2.5% 2.8% 50.0% 9.0 4.7 34.6
EMEA
Belgium 2.7% 7.7 31.1
France 3.9% 7.4% 39.6% 7.1 5.6 27.6
Germany 2.9% 55.6% 8.6 33.3
Ireland 2.2% 6.4% 10. 5 5.1 37.4
Italy 3.5% 7.1% 52.1% 7.5 6.8 36.1
Luxembourg 2.1% 5.9% 39.5% 9.1 7.5 32. 6
Netherlands 4.5% 7.3% 7.5 5.8 34.9
United 2.3% 5.1% 53.1% 9.6 5.8 35.2
Kingdom
JAPAC
China 3.0% 7.1 15.5
Hong Kong 6.0% 10.9% 7.1 7.0 12.8
Singapore 7.9% 9.2% 17.4% 6.5 3.2 30.3
Source: DoubleClick for Advertisers, a cross section of regions with statistically significant rich media metrics,
January – December 2009
17
18. Appendix
Appendix A: About the Source Data
DoubleClick has built a robust software tool to analyze online advertising campaign activity across its
DART ad serving platform. Presently, the tool reports click-through rates, interaction rates, interaction
times, expansion rates, expansion times and video complete rates for ads for thousands of advertisers
using the DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) and DoubleClick Rich Media platforms. These data are
carefully normalized to reflect industry norms to the best of our ability. The Advertising Research
Foundation (ARF) was consulted on the design of this tool and advised on aspects of its methodological
design, including the use of medians instead of mean averages for the calculation of the benchmark
metrics noted above. Data shown here represent activity of a wide range of ad formats for DFA
advertisers in the United States unless otherwise indicated. The majority of data are from January
2009 to December 2009.
The dataset used for the DoubleClick benchmarks reports of the activity of thousands of DFA advertisers
that have been categorized by industry and country geography. Industry categories are defined by the
sub-categories they represent. To make category assignments, each DFA advertiser is assigned to a
single industry sub-category. Subcategory assignments then roll-up into category assignments. For
example, the Media and Entertainment industry category is a roll-up of advertiser data from seventeen
subcategories, including Music, Movies, Sports, Arts and others. To ensure statistical soundness as
well as client confidentiality, minimums have been applied to the data sets that can be reported on: at
least four advertisers and four DART networks must be represented for any metric to be reported at any
dimension of the data (e.g., by creative size, by time period).
Appendix B: Definition of Interaction Rate and Interactions
Interaction Rate: The ratio of DoubleClick Rich Media ad interactions to the number of rich media ad
impressions displayed. This number is reached using the following calculation:
Interactions + Rich Media Impressions
Interactions: The number of times users interacted with a DoubleClick Rich Media ad.
An interaction is uniquely counted only once per impression.
Interactions are captured when the user does one or more of the following:
• Mouses over the ad for 1 continuous second
• Clicks an Exit link
• Makes the ad display in Full Screen mode
• Expands the ad
Appendix C: Definition of Average Interaction Time
Average Interaction Time: The average amount of time, in seconds, that a user interacts with
a DoubleClick Rich Media ad. Time from multiple interactions with an ad during a single ad view
are aggregated.
18
19. Appendix D: Definition of Expansion Rate
Expansion Rate: Expansion rate is calculated by dividing Expansions by DoubleClick Rich Media
Expanding ad impressions.
Expansions are counted when a user expands the ad by either rolling over the ad or by clicking on it and
the ad reaches its expanded state.
An expansion is counted only once per impression
Appendix E: Definition of Average Expanding Time
Average Expanding Time: The average length of time, in seconds, that an expanding ad is viewed in its
expanded state. Time from multiple expansions during a single ad view are aggregated. Timer starts when
the ad reaches the expanded state and stops when it collapses.
Any expansion time that exceeds four minutes is capped. This extended expansion time can occur, for
example, when a user opens an expanding ad on his or her browser, then steps away for an hour without
collapsing the ad or closing the browser. The capping rule helps prevent skewed results.
Appendix F: Measuring Video Completes
The video complete rate is calculated by the following formula and definitions:
Video Completes + Video Plays
Video Completes: The number of times a video played to its completion. For example, the number of
times a 15-second video plays for its full 15 seconds.
Video Plays: The number of impressions where a video started to play.