Move Text Out of Picture: Impacts of Spatial Relationship Between Text and Picture on Consumers' Attention to Online Ads

Examiners: Assistant Professors Oh Hyelim and Qiao Dandan

Abstract:

Static ads are predominantly used in online advertising to promote products. Typical static ads use both text and pictures to present products' information. While prior literature mainly studies the effects of ad content, there is a paucity of research exploring how the spatial relationship between ad text and picture affects consumers' attention to the ad. The current study focuses on a fundamental, yet under-studied design factor: the placement of ad text. Many advertisers argue that placing text on the ad picture is a great way to attract attention, while others think that text overlay may reduce ad persuasiveness. We plan to conduct a field experiment and a series of eye-tracking experiments to examine the effects of ad text placement on consumer attention and ad persuasiveness. The results of pilot tests suggest that ads with text separate from ad pictures can lead to longer attentional duration and greater persuasiveness compared to ads with text embedded in the pictures.