To Fit In or to Stand out? An Eye-Tracking Study Investigating Online Banner Effectiveness in a Media Multitasking Context

Online advertising banners are often subject to banner blindness, meaning that people avoid looking at them. The current study examines whether web surfing while watching television, a form of media multitasking, influences how respond online ad banners. experimental differently an which thematically fits with the website content (i.e., congruity) and is animated animation), taking into account relevance between tasks (whether television program related). Individuals’ cognitive (visual attention paid banner, measured by eye-tracking technology) attitudinal (online irritation) responses as dependent variables. results indicate during multitasking high task relevance, higher visual was obtained for incongruent (versus congruent) banner. When low, no such differences were found. This two-way interaction effect not significant irritation. Further, three-way congruity, animation found on irritation but attention. Concretely, lowest levels congruent, in context relevance.