Relevance, utility and discounts pique interest.

Certain ads always seem to get noticed.

The UK Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK), based on polling data from Lightspeed Research, has released information on how the content of digital advertisements affects viewer interest—as well as on the effectiveness of different online ad formats.

When UK users were asked when they paid attention to online ads, more than one-half answered when the ads were relevant. Forty-three percent said when the ads were useful, and 33% said money-off offers got their attention.

Along with confirming the belief that people like to save money, the most popular answers showed an openness on the part of consumers to more targeted advertising.

The results varied in some cases by age. Younger audiences were more interested in special offers, exclusive information and entertainment value. For ads to resonate with younger baby boomers, they needed to be more relevant and useful.

Certain ad formats had a higher rate of recall than others. Respondents remembered paid search, display, e-mail and pop-up ads more than social network or pop-under ads.

“The research has found that even though not all consumers click on ads, they are now fully acquainted with most forms of advertising online,” said Sorcha Proctor of the IAB UK.

“The data highlights what consumers want online: relevance, entertainment and value for money.”

While the findings may not be unexpected, it never hurts for marketers to keep what matters to consumers on top of their minds.

Source: eMarketer