Expandable ads are more effective than non-expandable ones

"For years, we’ve had great metrics – 6% avg. interaction rates, 15+ second avg. brand time, 2% click-through rate – but we haven’t always known what that means. Do these active users take action down the funnel? Does it really matter if the ad expands if we can’t tell what happens after they engage? A new PointRoll/Compete Research study has answered that question. And the answer is clear.
“We looked at how rich media display ads perform across various brand and response metrics and verticals and found statistical validation that expandables outperform non-expandables in every category we measured, including brand engagement, site visitations and search,” said Stephen DiMarco, Chief Marketing Officer of Compete.
The numbers look like this:
View-through reporting: Expandables outperformed non-expandables by an average of 64% and by as much as 108%.
Driving key purchase indicators (KPIs): Expandables outperformed non-expandable by an average 43% and by as much as 115%.
Driving brand search: Expandables outperformed non-expandables by an average of 39% and by as much as 155%.
Driving third party research site visitation: Expandables outperformed non-expandables by an average of 49% and by as much as 180%."
Source:  Research by PointRoll/Compete, reported in the PointRoll blog, 10th November 2010