The tendency of web visitors to ignore banner ads, even when banners contain information visitors are actively seeking.
Information
The term banner blindness was brought to the attention of the Web community
via the 1998 study "Banner Blindness: Web Searchers Often Miss Obvious
Links," by Jan Panero Benway and David M. Lane.
It is worth noting that "blindness" is only
one of the obstacles encountered by the typical banner. Ad blocking software does not even
allow graphical advertisements the opportunity to be actively ignored. Also, some people
surf with all graphics off, while others merely disable animations. Even when visitors are able to receive banners, slow ad servers often fail to deliver banners in time to reach potential viewers.
