• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • MarTech
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Mobile
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Email
    • Retail
    • Video
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • More
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land

Lean into your data

To improve CX, brand loyalty

What's ahead for ad tech?

More consolidation

Events

Join us at SMX Advanced!

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Email
  • Retail
  • Video
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Analytics & Conversion

Get the most important digital marketing news each day.

Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.


How Marketers Can Optimize For Clicks Based On Time Of Day

Gabe Donnini on January 15, 2013 at 8:15 am
  • More

As we enter 2013, the growth of online advertising continues at a healthy pace. In October 2012, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a report showing record-breaking, $17 billion online advertising revenues in the first half of 2012 – a 14% increase over the same period in 2011.

With this growth also comes a greater need for strategy. As TV advertisers are well aware, an advertisement’s time slot can have a dramatic impact in terms of how a consumer reacts to that ad. For marketers or advertisers running campaigns online, it can also be extremely useful to know the optimal time periods in which to run their initiatives.

CTR As Function Of Time & Day Of Week

To shed light on this area of user behavior, Chitika Insights conducted a research study comparing user click-through rates (CTR) as a function of the time of day and day of week. The goal of this study was to provide a data-backed answer for marketers looking to identify the days and time periods where users are most likely to interact with ads.

To quantify this study, Chitika Insights took a sample of ad impressions from the Chitika ad network originating from the U.S. and Canada during the entire month of December.

For the first graph, the x-axis on the plot shows the hour of the week. For instance, the x-axis point labeled “Sunday 6AM EST” measures the average CTR for all Sundays at 6AM EST for the month of December.

As a result, this graph shows how the CTR changes for each of the 168 hours that comprise a given week. It is also plotted as an index, where the highest hour’s CTR is assigned a value of 1, and all others are proportions thereof. The second graph shows indexed CTR by day of week (all hours in a day combined).

 

Optimizing For Time & Day Of Week

The data displayed in the chart below shows that marketers can best capitalize on elevated user CTR on Saturdays and Sundays, when the rate at which users click and browse the Web lies well above weekday levels. User CTR on the weekdays is, on average, 7% – 12% below the CTRs during the weekend, depending on the day.

In addition, if we look at this data with hourly granularity, we can see that CTR tends to peak in the mornings, from 6AM to 1PM. It then declines until midnight, where it stays low until the early morning.

The trade-off is these time periods also see some of the lowest impression volumes of the week. As such, if marketers’ main focus is maxing Click and Action rates, these CTR differences over time can influence the effectiveness of their campaign.

As always, this is simply one factor that influences click likelihood; nonetheless, considering time of day can become an important tool in the marketer’s toolbox for improving campaigns.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Gabe Donnini
Gabe Donnini is a Data Solutions Engineer at Chitika and a lead author for reports by Chitika Insights, the research arm of the online ad service. After graduating with a B.A. in Business Administration from Ithaca College, Gabe has been pursuing his passion for technology by researching and analyzing new and emerging trends in the online world.

Popular Stories

What’s A Video View? On Facebook, Only 3 Seconds Vs. 30 At YouTube
How marketers can counter chatbot backlash
Skimlinks launches automated affiliate links for AMP
8 companies doing social media right and what marketers can learn from them

Related Topics

AnalyticsAnalytics & Marketing ColumnChannel: Analytics & ConversionStatistics: Online Advertising

Get the most important digital marketing news each day.

Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.


We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Attend Our Conferences

Gain new strategies and insights at the intersection of marketing, technology, and management. Our next conference will be held:

April 3-5, 2019: San Jose

September 16-18, 2019: Boston

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 2-3, 2019: SMX Munich

May 21-22, 2019: SMX London

June 3-5, 2019: SMX Advanced

June 12-13, 2019: SMX Paris

Sept 30 - Oct 1, 2019: SMX Advanced Europe

November 13-14, 2019: SMX East

×

Attend SMX - Click Here


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • The Ultimate Guide to Site Search User Experience
  • The Marketing Analytics Buyer’s Guide 2019
  • Mission Possible: Quality Content Marketing
  • 2019 Marketing Trends: Nine factors reshaping marketing and how you can stay ahead of them
  • The Dummies Guide to Enterprise Customer Data Platforms
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Google’s Black Box Bidding Solution: A look under the hood
  • 2019 Martech Trends You Need To Know
  • How to Prepare for a Successful Marketing Analytics Implementation
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Account-Based Marketing Tools
  • Enterprise SEO Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
  • Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms
  • Local Marketing Automation Tools
See More Research
Digital Agency e-Book
Sign up for our daily newsletter
Marketing Land
Download the Marketing Land app on iTunes Download the Marketing Land App on Google Play

Follow Us

© 2019 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.