High-cost banner blindness

The seeming contradiction between “banner blindness” and Web users' complaints about distracting advertisements motivates a pair of experiments into the effect of banner ads on visual search. Experiment 1 measures perceived cognitive workload and search times for short words with two banners on the screen. Four kinds of banners were examined: (1) animated commercial, (2) static commercial, (3) cyan with flashing text, and (4) blank. Using NASA's Task Load Index, participants report increased workload under flashing text banners. Experiment 2 investigates search through news headlines at two levels of difficulty: exact matches and matches requiring semantic interpretation. Results show both animated and static commercial banners decrease visual search speeds. Eye tracking data reveal people rarely look directly at banners. A post hoc memory test confirms low banner recall and, surprisingly, that animated banners are more difficult to remember than static look-alikes. Results have implications for cognitive modeling and Web design.