인터넷 배너 광고는 2000년대 들어 클릭율이 0.2% 대로 추락하면서 그 효과성에 의문이 제기되었다. 그러나 소비자가 인터넷 광고를 클릭하지 않아도 단순히 노출된 것만으로 소비자의 브랜드 선호도가 영향을 받는다는 사실이 알려짐에 따라, 광고 노출 정도 및 효과에 대한 재평가의 필요성이 제기되었다. 특히 컴퓨터 화면의 극히 일부만을 차지하는 인터넷 배너 광고의 경우에는 광고 노출 정도에 대한 정확한 평가를 위해 실제 시각적 주의를 측정하는 것이 중요하다. 본 연구는 아이트래커를 이용한 실험을 통하여 사용자의 실제 시각적 주의를 측정한 후에, 광고의 시각적 특성 및 인터넷 사용자의 사용 정황이 시각적 주의를 끄는데 어떤 영향을 주는지, 그리고 시각적 주의가 재인 및 회상에는 어떤 영향을 미치는지를 분석하고 그 의미를 도출하였다. 분석 결과, 인터넷 배너 광고의 시각적 자극(애니메이션과 색상)은 과제 수행 여부에 따라 시각적 주의에 상이한 영향을 주는데, 수행 과제가 없는 경우에는 지나치게 화려하거나 단순한 광고보다는 적당한 정도로 화려한 광고가 시각적 주의를 가장 많이 끌었고, 수행 과제가 있는 경우에는 광고의 시각적 자극의 정도가 시각적 주의에 영향을 주지 않았다. 과제수행 여부와 시각적 자극의 복잡성이 시각적 주의와 기억의 관계를 조절하는 영향을 분석한 결과, 수행할 과제가 있거나 광고 자체를 해석하기 위해 자원이 많이 소요되는 화려한 광고에 노출된 경우에는 인지적 과부하가 일어나 시각적 주의가 있었음에도 불구하고 재인 및 회상이 일어나지 않았다. 본 논문에서 실증적으로 확인된 이러한 사실들은 향후 효과적인 인터넷 광고 전략 수립 및 가격 모델 구축 시에 반영되어야 할 것으로 보인다.
Internet advertising has continued to expand rapidly. This explosion in Internet advertising was caused by the increasing use of the Internet as a new medium. Today Internet is a daily part of the lives of most people. According to TNS Global, Korean adults spend more than 40% of their leisure time on the Internet. While surfing the Internet, users are confronted with not one but a number of Internet ads on most web pages. Moreover, most Internet ads are equipped with various attention-grabbing devices such as animation, colorful pictures, bigger size characters, and this leads to competitive clutter on websites. Unlike the typical advertisement exposure on TV, people intentionally avoid Internet banner ads on computer screens, which share the space with many other editorial contents. In order to assess the impact of the Internet banner ads, it is important to examine whether or not users are actually looking at the Internet banner ads and if they do, how long they pay attention to the ads. In this paper, people`s actual eye movements are measured and analyzed with the help of a modern eye-tracking device. According to the motion effect theory and distinctiveness theory, people have a tendency to pay instant attention to moving objects or distinctive things that stands out from the environment. Animation and color are popular visual characteristics used for attracting Internet users` attention in the banner ads. However, people need to consume more cognitive resources when they process such animated and colorful objects compared to when they process static and black-and-white objects. Therefore, the excessive use of animation and color in banner ads can have adverse effects on visual attention and on memory. Thus it remains an empirical question to test whether the animated and colorful banner ads attract more attention and improve memory. Another dimension for user attention allocation could be the complexity of the task. Some users may be seeking for specific information on the Internet at work, while others may be browsing the web aimlessly in their leisure time. Whether they have a specific task to perform or not, it may influence the amount of visual attention paid to banner ads and also the process of encoding and storing information from the banner ads. Therefore, by measuring user eye movement data, we first investigate the effect of the visual characteristics (animation and color) of banner ads and the complexity of user task on visual attention. Then, we analyze the effect of visual attention to memory with available cognitive resource as a moderator. For empirical analysis, 104 participants were randomly assigned to either a specific task group or an undefined task (i.e. browsing) group and they were exposed to a portal site, where banner ads were embedded, for approximately three minutes. While they were participating in the experiment, their eye movement data was automatically collected by the Tobii T120 eye-tracker. After experimentation, they were asked to fill out survey questions for recognition and recall as well as a demographic profile. The analysis results show that first, the effect of visual characteristics (animation and color) on visual attention depends on whether they have a specific task or not. Without a specific task to perform, moderately complex ads (colorful ads without animation) caught more visual attention than either extremely complex ads (animated ads) or simple ads (black-and-white ads without animation). On the other hand, with a specific task to perform, visual characteristics of the banner ads had no significant effect on visual attention. Second, the moderating role of task and complexity of visual characteristics was found. For example, when users have a specific task or they are exposed to extremely complex ads, visual attention was not directly translated into memory (recognition and recall) improvement. Those results are consistent with the limited capacity model of mediated message processing (LC3MP). For users in a specific task group, more cognitive resources are required to accomplish the task and therefore, fewer resources are left to process information from banner ads. Likewise, banner ads with animation and diverse colors require more cognitive resources to process, leaving fewer resources to process information from banner ads, which results in memory deterioration on the banner ads. This study has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the effects of visual stimuli on visual attention and memory by empirically measuring and analyzing the actual visual attention data which were not seriously considered in previous advertising studies. It uncovered the underlying mechanism for the relationship between visual stimuli and memory by dividing it into two steps; visual stimuli to visual attention and visual attention to memory. Also the moderating role of task and complexity of visual stimuli on these relationships were interpreted with limited capacity models. Based on the findings, the following managerial implications are suggested. First, when choosing a web site for banner ads, companies should look for a site where people usually visit for spending spare time rather than a site where people visit for a specific purpose such as information search or online shopping. Second, when designing the banner ads, it is important to maintain a moderate level of complexity. It was found that excessively complex ads or extremely simple ads can be a bad strategy in translating user attention into memorization. Internet users tend to avoid distinctive graphics that they conceive as an annoying advertisement by their own experience. Furthermore, even when it catches a user attention, the probability to recognize or recall the banner ad is low since excessively complex banner ads leave few cognitive resources for memorization. On the other hand, the extremely simple ads, for example a static banner ad without any color, fail to gain attention resulting in no further information processing.