Internet show ads more effective than ads on TV

As TV shows continue their lengthy migration onto the web, new research finds that the people watching those shows actually pay more attention to both advertising and content when they watch online.

A year's worth of research from Simmons, a media consultancy, shows that Internet video watchers are 47 percent more engaged by the advertising they watched than were traditional TV viewers, according to MediaPost. The same study found that viewers were 25 percent more engaged in the content on the shows as well.

That's excellent news for networks like NBC, which has been making aggressive moves to put its shows online (though not through iTunes) in advertising-supported streaming and downloadable formats. The network appears more interested in mimicking the traditional free, ad-supported model of television than it does in pushing paid downloads, and the Simmons study may vindicate that decision (even if NBC's strategy confuses some viewers in the process).