Placing content “above the fold” refers to a story or content located on the upper half of the front page of a newspaper, and has long been a maxim in news media. Papers are often displayed folded up with only the top half of the page visible, so this region has the most influence over whether or not customers buy it. On websites, this type of graphic focus is referred to as “above the scroll”. As it turns out, it’s equally important when it comes to site monetization for publishers.
Chitika Insights investigated the importance of ad location on a webpage by distinguishing between ads above and below the scroll. With a week’s sample of millions of impressions from within our network, we found the click-through-rate of ads above the fold is 0.484% while the same for those below the fold is 0.334%. Ads above the scroll get 45% more clicks than those below the scroll. This suggests that impulse-driven consumers are an important target market.
To those following the online advertising industry, this research emphasizes that location is one of the most critical factors for click rates. In other words, the best way to target the “quick-click” consumers is to ensure your ad stays above the scroll. Stay in touch with Insights for new and interesting ways to increase ad monetization as a publisher.