thumb|The front page of an [[internet forum with several yellow banner messages attempting to catch the user's attention]]
Banner blindness is a phenomenon in web usability where visitors to a website consciously or subconsciously ignore banner-like information. A broader phenomenon covering all forms of advertising is ad blindness, and the mass of banners being ignored is banner noise.
The term banner blindness was coined in 1998 as a result of website usability tests where a majority of the test subjects either consciously or unconsciously ignored information that was presented in banners. The information that was overlooked included both external advertisement banners and internal navigational banners, often called "quick links".
Banner ads still influence the behavior of viewers, even when they may not be consciously aware of an ad. A banner's content affects both businesses and visitors of the site. Advertisers seeking to avoid banner blindness may use native advertising and social media.
Factors
Human behavior
User goals
When searching for specific information on a website, users focus only on the parts of the page where they expect that information will be, e.g. small text and hyperlinks. A 2011 study investigated via eye-tracking analysis whether users avoided looking at ads inserted on a non-search website, and whether they retained ad content in memory. The study found that most participants fixated (looked at) ads at least once during their website visit. When a viewer is working on a task, ads may cause a disturbance, eventually leading to ad avoidance. If a user wants to find something on the web page and ads disrupt or delay their search, they will try to avoid the source of interference. The number of adverts and annoyances on a webpage contribute to this perception of clutter. This contributes to behaviors such as ad avoidance or banner blindness.
Website familiarity
thumb|upright=1.4|Standard web banner ad sizes As a user becomes familiar with a webpage, they learn where to expect content, and where to expect adverts, and learn to ignore banner ads without looking at them. Usability tests that compared the perception of banners between subjects searching for specific information and subjects aimlessly browsing seem to support this theory.
Brand recognition
If a user is already aware of a brand, viewing an ad banner for that brand would reconfirm their existing attitudes towards it, whether positive or negative. A banner ad may only leave a positive impression in the viewer if they already have a positive perception of the brand. Similarly, someone seeing an ad for a brand they have a negative perception of may further dissuade them from buying from that brand.
If viewers have a neutral or no opinion about a brand, then a banner ad for that brand could leave a positive impression, due to the mere-exposure effect, the tendency to develop a preference for something due to familiarity.
Banner aspects
Shared space
Unlike advertisements in television or radio, which completely interrupt and temporarily replace the content, banner adverts exist alongside the content. Websites typically contain various elements in different sizes, shapes, and colours. As a banner ad only occupies part of a website, it cannot hold the user's complete attention.
Prices and promotions, when mentioned in banner ads, do not have a major impact on their perceived usefulness. Users assume that all ads signify promotions of some sort and hence do not give much weight to it.
Congruency has more impact when the user browses fewer web pages. When users were given specific web tasks in a 2013 study, incongruent ads grabbed their attention, but they displayed ad avoidance behaviors. The relevance of the ad's content to the user's goal and to the website does not affect view time due to the expectation that an advert will be irrelevant.
Congruency between the advert and the web content has no effect on view duration, according to a 2011 study.
Calls to action
Banners with phrases that invite action, such as "click here", do not attract views or clicks.
Animation
Users dislike animated ads since they can cause loss of focus. This distraction may increase the attention of some users when they are involved in free browsing (not seeking to complete a specific goal). Users involved in a specific task typically fail to recall animated ads, take longer to complete their task, and experience an increased perceived workload.
In visual search tasks, animated ads did not impact the performance of users and did not capture more views than static ads. Animations signal to users of the existence of ads and lead to ad avoidance behavior, but repetitive exposure to them can induce the mere exposure effect.
Personalization and relevance
Personalized ads use and include information about viewers, like demographics, PII, and purchasing habits. An ad is noticed more if it has a higher degree of personalization, even if it causes discomfort in users. Personalized ads are found to be clicked more often than other ads. If a user is involved in a demanding task, more attention is paid to a personalized ad than an unpersonalised ad.
Personalization enhanced recognition for the content of banners while the effect on attention was weaker and less significant, in the studies conducted by Koster et al. Exploration of web pages and recognition of task-relevant information was not influenced. Visual exploration of banners typically proceeds from the picture to the logo and finally to the slogan.
If a website serves ads unrelated to its viewers' interests, about 75% of viewers experience frustration with the website. Advertising efforts must focus on the user's current intention and interest and not just previous searches. Publishing fewer, but more relative, ads is more effective.
Advertisers may use data analytics and campaign management tools to categorise viewers and serve ads that are more likely to be relevant to the user's interests. Information about users could be gained through gamification tools which could reward them for providing that information. Such tools could be quizzes, calculators, chats, or questionnaires.
Social media
Through social media, advertisers can transfer feelings of trust in known individuals to adverts, thereby validating the ads. Peer pressure can encourage users to change attitudes or behavior regarding advertising to adapt to group customs.