Click fiends distort online ad numbers

A relatively small and unrepresentative group of internet users are responsible for most click-throughs from online advertisements, according to a new Starcom/Tacoda/comScore study reported by Clickz.

Dubbed “natural born clickers”, the study found a group of people representing just 6% of the online population are responsible for half of all clicks on display internet ads.

A further 10% of the online population account for another 10% of the clicks – so 16% of internet users click on 80% of ads.

“Close to 70% of the online universe doesn’t click at all,” Greg Rogers, Tacoda VP of sales strategy at Tacoda told Clickz. “Heavy clickers spent five times more time online than a non-clicker, which to me is astounding,” he says.

The study’s authors say the results show that advertisers can’t count on click-through rate as a primary success measurement for display ads.