In a study conducted by Blue Lithium’s BL Labs, it was found that behaviorally targeted ads do receive a higher rate of hits when it is in the same category of content, but conversion rates that are viewed out of context are much higher.
The results of this show that if an advertiser is looking for driving traffic primarily, then putting behaviorally targeted ads in the same category is what will do the job, as click-through rates are 56 percent higher than the ads shown in a different category.
If you're a direct marketer, offering behaviorally targeted ads in a different context outperforms the other a huge amount. In that case the CTR is 108 percent higher and the overall ATR is 19% above ads 
shown in the same category.
"As a top-line recommendation for advertisers, if your goal is traffic, use behavioral targeting in context. If your goal is conversions, use behavioral targeting out of context," Dakota Sullivan, BlueLithium's CMO, told ClickZ.
Comment Preview