Telly ads drive people online

ACCORDING TO A SURVEY almost half of all UK consumers turn to the interwibble to research companies after seeing them advertised on the boobtube.

YouGov, in association with analysts Deloitte, found that 44 per cent of consumers hot-fingered it to their computers to find out even more about the companies whose ads they have already been forced to sit through on the television. Some people are gluttons for punishment, and sweet food stuffs.

This consumption frenzy may be made easier by the fact that a lot of people are already doing the two things at once. Over half of those who responded said that they watched television and surfed at the same time. We suspect a lot of them were quite happy to fill in survey forms while eating cheesy snacks as well.

Further probing discovered more details. For example, contrary to what we learned yesterday, consumers still believe that television ads are the most influential form of advertising, as 64 per cent of those polled said this, while just 8 per cent said that they were compelled to spend after being exposed to just online display advertising.

Howard Davies, media partner at Deloitte, said, "Online advertising's poor showing relative to TV may be a surprise given that the former has often been portrayed as TV's nemesis. However, what TV does best - display and brand building - is what online struggles with. Online advertising is best at search, which previously newspapers had excelled at, particularly for classifieds."

Silly chap. Everyone knows that a simple hammer is a telly's nemesis. µ