Assessing the Effects of Animation in Online Banner Advertising

The present study attempts to examine the effects of animated banner ads, as well as the moderating effects of involvement, on each stage of the hierarchy of effects model, and to explore the applicability of the hierarchy of effects model to the banner advertising environment through an online experiment. The results provide support for the notion that animated banner ads prompt better advertising effects than do static ads. Animated banner advertising has better attention-grabbing capabilities, and generates higher recall, more favorable Aad, and higher click-through intention than static ads. Furthermore, an individual’s product involvement moderates the effects of animated banner advertising on recall, Aad, and click-through intention. However, the study does not provide solid evidence of the feasibility of the traditional hierarchical model (Cognition -> Affect -> Behavior) in the online banner advertising environment. Several implications and limitations of these results are discussed, and future research is suggested.