Fifteen percent more readers reported that they saw 1-page ads than reported seeing half page ads. An additional 30% read 1-page ads over half pages. The boost in reader engagement with larger ads reinforces the decision to invest in larger advertising, even if the upgrade is to a larger fractional ad.
If money were no object, everyone would be running the largest ads possible. Unfortunately, budgets force companies to make compromises. Advertisers should be aware of the potential trade-off they’re making with an extremely small ad. In fact, on average, quarter page ads were seen by 20% fewer readers and read by 25% fewer readers than half page ads. Fractional advertisers looking for a boost in viewership and readership don’t necessarily have to break their budget with full-page ads. Instead, stepping up to a half-page may offer a successful compromise.
This potential for lower engagement should not dissuade companies from running an ad simply because they can only afford small ads. Quarter page ads do deliver market exposure to the advertisers’ messages. Furthermore, well-designed fractional ads, including quarter page ads, can be successful when they make the most of the space available, and simply upgrading to a larger ad size does not guarantee that the ad will be seen or read more. In general, though, larger ads tend to achieve higher saw and read rates than smaller ads.
These Saw and Read results were based on an index in which the average score for the 1/2 page ads was set to 100 and included the scores of 22,209 advertisements measured in Red Sticker™ Studies. Respondents were asked “When you first looked through this issue, did you…see this article or advertisement but not read any of it? …see and read any of this article or advertisement?”
