NEW YORK: Lightningcast which claims to be the industry leader in advertising technology and services for interactive broadcasters has announced the results of a study demonstrating the quantifiable effectiveness of online video advertising for building brands.

The study indicates a significantly higher advertiser awareness, greater likelihood to buy the product and higher brand favourability among consumers, specifically due to the online ads.

Lightningcast partnered with independent research company Dynamic Logic to quantify the impact of an Internet ad campaign for the Hyundai Tiburon automobile that ran on the Lightningcast network of interactive broadcasting sites. The study showed that online video advertising succeeded in significantly increasing awareness:

-- Web users exposed to the online ad were 80 per cent more likely to be aware of the Tiburon than a control group that did not view the ad.

-- Web users exposed to the online ad expressed a 46 per cent higher likelihood to purchase the Tiburon compared with the control group

-- 14 per cent of web users who were aware of the ad and expressed an interest in purchasing the Tiburon said they had a more favorable impression of Hyundai than did the control group.

Internet Marketing Manager for Hyundai Motor America James Fabin said: "Reaching the broadband consumer is of growing importance to Hyundai's online advertising strategy. The online ads were a natural extension for Hyundai to use our existing advertisements. When viewed by users over a broadband connection, the ads were less intrusive and seen as more of an integrated part of the viewers' expected experience. The impact and response by consumers outperformed other online ad campaigns we've tried."

The Hyundai research involved a randomly sampled group of 628 Internet users, 228 of whom were shown a 30-second ad created and delivered online using video streams. Another 400 people formed the control group.

VP research services at Dynamic Logic Molly Hislop said :"Advertisers and their agencies should look to this study for valuable learning on how to effectively harness the power of broadcast style advertising to build brand awareness, communicate messaging and persuade consumers. These results provide keen insight to advertisers looking to place traditional creative online to complement offline media campaigns."

Chairman & CTO of Lightningcast Tom Des Jardins said: "Extending the powerful impact of video advertising online, in a one-to-one viewer experience, has an extraordinary effect on influencing viewers, and enables advertisers to target them by zip code, age and gender. The Hyundai study proves the unique value to advertisers of the interactive benefits of online streamed advertising, using the Lightningcast MediaThunder ad server."