Editing Banner blindness (section)

=== Banner aspects ===
==== Shared space ====
Unlike advertisements in television or radio, which completely interrupt and temporarily replace the content, banner adverts exist alongside the content. Websites typically contain various elements in different sizes, shapes, and colours. As a banner ad only occupies part of a website, it cannot hold the user's complete attention.<ref name=":5" />

==== Perceived usefulness ====
Banner ads that seem to contain useful information, and which are easy for the viewer to comprehend, are more likely to be viewed and clicked on than adverts the user does not find useful, or finds difficult to understand.<ref name=":4">Idemudia, E. C., & Jones, D. R. (2015). An empirical investigation of online banner ads in online market places: the cognitive factors that influence intention to click. ''International Journal of Information Systems and Management'', ''1''(3), 264-293.</ref>

Prices and promotions, when mentioned in banner ads, do not have a major impact on their perceived usefulness. Users assume that all ads signify promotions of some sort and hence do not give much weight to it.<ref name=":4" />

==== Congruence ====
Congruity is the relationship of an advert with the surrounding web content. There have been mixed results of congruity on users. Click through rates increased when the ads shown on a website were similar to the products or services of that website. A banner with colour schemes incongruent with the rest of website does grab the viewer's attention, but they tend to respond negatively to it, compared with banners whose color schemes were congruent.<ref>Robinson, H., Wysocka, A., & Hand, C. (2007). Internet advertising effectiveness: the effect of design on click-through rates for banner ads.''International Journal of Advertising'',&nbsp;''26''(4), 527-541.</ref>

Congruency has more impact when the user browses fewer web pages. When users were given specific web tasks in a 2013 study, incongruent ads grabbed their attention, but they displayed ad avoidance behaviors.<ref>Porta, M., Ravarelli, A., & Spaghi, F. (2013). Online newspapers and ad banners: an eye-tracking study on the effects of congruity. ''Online Information Review'', ''37''(3), 405-423.</ref> The relevance of the ad's content to the user's goal and to the website does not affect view time due to the expectation that an advert will be irrelevant.<ref>Higgins, E., Leinenger, M., & Rayner, K. (2014). Eye movements when viewing advertisements. ''Frontiers in Psychology'', ''5''.</ref>

Congruency between the advert and the web content has no effect on view duration, according to a 2011 study.<ref>Hervet, G., Guérard, K., Tremblay, S., & Chtourou, M. S. (2011). Is banner blindness genuine? Eye tracking internet text advertising. ''Applied cognitive psychology'', ''25''(5), 708-716.</ref>

==== Calls to action ====
Banners with phrases that invite action, such as "click here", do not attract views or clicks.<ref name=":8" />