I recently reviewed an article on the IDG.net site titled, "Victims Of Their Own Success."  The article addressed the ongoing issue of why Internet advertising (particularly, banner ads) isn't catching on, even though the Internet community continues to increase dramatically.

And, what better example of irony to cite in the article than the unsuccessful banner program at the Yahoo! site, since Yahoo! is, arguably, one of the most successful online sites ever.  But, banner ads aren't the theme of this particular article..."Illusion" is.

What got my attention, was that the aforementioned article went on to state that Yahoo! has 185 million registered members.  Now, at first glance, and without further information, in response, prospective advertisers would normally go...

"Wow!  When can I get my ad on there?  How much will that ad cost?  I'll sell the house, the car, even the family dog, if I must!  Just let me in!"

Yes...at first glance.  But, when you consider that people a la 'Yours Truly' who have multiple email accounts on Yahoo!, this factor cuts into, and quickly diminishes, that 185 million figure.  And, herein, lies the problem of..."illusion."

This type of purported presence in the business industry, is akin to calling up advertising departments at print publications for their rates and having the ad representative attempt to convince you to buy space by first stating something to the effect of...

"Our *readership* is 100,000...with a readership of 3 readers per copy so, our publication would be a perfect advertising vehicle for your product or service."

To new prospective and unknowledgeable advertisers, this at first looks great, especially if the publication directly targets your potential customers.  However, over the course of time, and having 
experienced less than pleasant results from subscribing to this very theory, I quickly learned to immediately counter with...

"Perhaps, but I'm not interested in your *readership* figure...I'm only interested in your actual *circulation*."  This is to say that, in the above immediate example, this would reduce the reader count, or printed copies per publishing period, to approximately 33,333. 
Now, for readers who may not understand the issue of 'readership' versus 'circulation', I'll explain.

The idea of using 'readership' as a sound basis for obtaining potential results, is like Star Trek...a fantasy...and, in my opinion, an unfair marketing ploy.  It is a tool that the advertising sector of the publishing industry has long adopted and utilized in the interest of persuading unknowledgeable prospective advertisers to part with their hard-earned dollars.

For, I know of no measurable way for advertising departments to accurately determine how many people read any particular copy.  Using the 3-for-1 scenario above, I have personally never believed 
that there existed 2 additional people waiting anxiously to pick up every single copy to read and, more specifically, to read a particular ad.

I am, otherwise, more apt to believe that there are a large number of people anxiously awaiting the newspaper for other ulterior motives such as, cleaning windows to insure a streak-free existence, or as packing material in boxes for shipping gifts cross-country to Aunt Bea at Christmas.  After all, think about it...what do *you* do with *your* own newspaper after reading it?  See my point?

Additionally, what happens to all those "left-over" copies you see, from one issue to the next, in your neighborhood convenience store that not only were left by those other 2 fantasy readers, but were never even picked up by the first reader either?  Now, this alone knocks a Grand Canyon-size hole in the 3-for-1 theory, doesn't it?

And, not to toss even more proverbial kerosene on the open business fire, but I also believe this idea of 'hyping' and 'padding' figures, is the major reason for the failure of so many initially well-funded dot.com companies.

'Circulation', on the other hand, paints a much more true and realistic picture of how much bang you may, possibly, get for your buck, because this aspect of advertising defines the actual number of copies printed per publishing period.

And, though there is no assurance that the same reader will read every single issue, again, it is a much better tool by which to measure possible results.

Aside from attempting to get more money through multiple ads in one sitting in order to earn a higher sales commission, this is also why, when purchasing advertising, the ad rep will suggest placing your ad in several issues in order to insure your ad attracts the attention of the dedicated reader...which is about the only element I agree on with the ad rep to date.

However, in both of these examples, illusion on behalf of the "seller," has played a major role in attracting the advertiser.  In respect to Yahoo!, if I have at least 10 email accounts of my own, how many other people have as many (if not more) accounts as well?  Obviously, not 185 million.

Yet, Yahoo!, obviously, successfully sells itself in a convincing manner to ad prospects that these 185 million accounts are unique and individual, accompanied by an equal number of prospective ad views.

But, if the lack of success with online banner ads is a viable indicator, perhaps the majority of prospective advertisers, online or offline, isn't as gullible as ad reps would prefer to believe.

Yet, if anyone can invent such a measuring tool for accurately counting readers, his or her bank account will, possibly, be the next challenger to Bill Gates' account.  Now, there's an idea I might even decide to try my own hand at, and an invention the U. S. 2000 
Election could have significantly benefited from.

Actually, as I tend to be both mechanically and electronically challenged, the idea of my successful invention of such a device, is about as far-reaching as my ever taking a trip to the planet Uranus in a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle.

The moral of this story?  In respect to advertising, only accept what is verifiable, i.e., actual circulation figures, target markets, publications with ongoing and long-term competitor ads, instead of looking at ballooned and illusional readership figures.

An even better move is, since many publications, if not all at this point, post a notice of their auditing firm within each of their issues, contact the auditing firm directly to verify that even the circulation figures are accurate before placing advertising. Through obtaining these ad facts, these steps will then eliminate your possibly becoming a victim of "ad illusion."

To review the article that inspired this article, go to:

MARKETING BOOKS

E-BOOKS ON INTERNET MARKETING