The Sydney Morning Herald recently released an article on November 13, by Paul McIntyre, revealing the interesting results of a recent Nielsen Online study. According to a study of 100,000 Australians, an astonishingly high number of Internet users were able to recall ads they had viewed  online, and admit they were more inclined to buy those products. Interestingly, users who were unable to recall an ad – but had also seen the ad per Nielsen’s tracking -  turned out to be similarly influenced  by ads, as reflected in their buying patterns.

According to Tony Marlow, Nielsen Online’s research director for Asia-Pacific,  these findings are, “…real positive. It means you can get your message through to people without being intrusive or annoying.” The data from the Nielsen research also revealed that nearly one-third of online users who have seen an ad are then able to recall it when asked, a result researchers claim to be exceptionally strong.

According to Neilsen, this research suggests that the online industry will increasingly compete with rival media sectors for a larger portion of Australia’s $12 billion advertising market. Chief executive of The Interactive Advertising Bureau, Paul Fisher, said that Australia’s online ad industry has doubled its market share gains against other media sectors in the first six months of 2009 to 14.5% and may very well top 16% for the December half. To Fisher, “this is only going to accelerate the fact that online is one of the most effective advertising platforms.”

via Paul McIntyre @ The Sydney Morning Herald