© 2018 IJRAR November 2018, Volume 5, Issue 4 www.ijrar.

org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)

THE EFFECT OF INTERNET ADVERTISING

ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Dr. Pardeep Kumar, Department of Commerce
Associate Professor, Keshav Mahavidyalya
University of Delhi
ABSTRACT
The Internet is rapidly becoming an accepted communication/promotion medium for all types and sizes of
businesses. It is especially significant in reference to the major marketing functions of advertising and sales.
Advances in Internet technology have evolved the business world in a number of ways, including taking advertising
techniques to a new level. Savvy marketers leverage the power of the Internet to reach their target markets in
innovative, personal ways that can achieve an impact comparable to or more effective than traditional advertising
media. Internet ads can be viewed by millions of people while being displayed all day and night, while television or
radio ads generally last less than two minutes and are shown a limited number of times per day. Online advertising,
also called online marketing or Internet advertising or web advertising is a form of marketing and advertising which
uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Consumers view online advertising as
an unwanted distraction with few benefits and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.
When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising. It includes email marketing,
search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner
advertising), and mobile advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves both a
publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the
advertisements to be displayed on the publisher's content. Other potential participants include advertising agencies
who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics,
and advertising affiliates who do independent promotional work for the advertiser. In 2016, Internet advertising
revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television and broadcast television1. In 2017, Internet
advertising revenues in the United States totaled $83.0 billion, a 14% increase over the $72.50 billion in revenues in
20162. Advertisers are expected to shift and spend millions in internet advertising in the coming years than TV, print
ads and other traditional advertising media. With the rapid growth in technology, the internet is becoming an
important one stop point for consumers in finding most of their needs. Be it communication, entertainment, shopping,
information search, internet serves as a panacea for all their requirements. The current study investigated the effect of
internet advertising on consumer behavior by conducting a survey on University of Delhi Students. The study sought
to determine the effectiveness of internet advertising on reach and creation of awareness; to establish the reliability of
internet advertising through recall; and to determine the relationship between internet advertising and purchase
decision. The study used a case study research design. The target population was the University of Delhi students. The
study used stratified sampling technique to select 100 study respondents. The primary data was collected using
questionnaires. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data while the quantitative data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics using SPSS. Regression and Correlation analysis was used to show the relationships among the
variables. The data was presented through percentages, means, standard deviations and frequencies. The study found
that internet advertising was effective on reach and creation of awareness due to diverse usage, and established that its
reliability as an advertising media was low compared to TV. Internet advertising has significant relationship with
purchase decision of the consumers and therefore is a key determinant in influencing consumer behaviour. The study
determined that there is a positive relationship between internet advertising and consumer purchase decision and
further recommends that companies should conduct a market research on the different markets in various countries to
ensure that the internet advertising initiatives being implemented suits the targeted markets to improve product
purchases.

Key Words: - Advertisement, Consumer Behaviour, Internet, Promotion Mix, Markets.

1. Introduction:-
Internet has grown tremendously in both its applications and number of users due to its unique characteristics of
flexibility, interactivity, and personalization. The revolutionary change brought forth by information technology has
an important impact on the daily lives. It has transformed the way we do business by allowing retailers to offer
unlimited range of products and services to all consumers from around the world at any point in time. Many
companies have turned to the Internet to advertise their products and services and pouring billions of dollars into
Internet advertising to obtain greater return on investment on ads. The Internet enables consumers to access an
unlimited range of products and services from companies around the world. Over the years marketing strategies have
evolved with technology leading to the internet creating unprecedented opportunities for digital marketers to connect
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with customers to create an immersive connected digital environment, influence and drive purchases, fuel new growth
and create new market share. The growth of internet advertising is both globally and locally outpacing offline
advertising. While outdoor advertising is also experiencing growth, it is not growing as rapidly as Internet advertising.
It is on this basis that the study investigated the effect of online advertising based on a consumer sample from
University of Delhi to determine the relationship between advertising and consumer behaviour.
Internet advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of
delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online advertising include contextual ads on search engine
results pages, banner ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising
networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam. Online video directories for brands are a good example of
interactive advertising. If the advertiser has opted for a response feature, the viewer may then choose to visit the
brand’s website, or interact with the advertiser through other touch points such as email, chat or phone. Response to
brand communication is instantaneous, and conversion to business is very high. This is because in contrast to
conventional forms of interruptive advertising, the viewer has actually chosen to see the commercial. Consumer can
gather information about products and services, communicate with other consumers and firms for related products and
services, and sometimes complete transactions. As the Internet session is a self selected environment of the consumer,
the promotion message will be more effective. Internet advertising is also capable of providing an experiential
environment to the consumer through virtual reality interfaces thus allowing the consumer to experience some of the
features of products before making the purchase decision. Consumer can provide feedback content about the product,
to the firm and to other consumers. A positive feedback becomes a good promotion for the marketer. A marketer can
even exploit a negative feedback by solving the consumer’s problem and showing the commitment of the organization
to satisfying consumer needs.
Promotion mix is also called marketing communication mix. Promotion is one of the elements of marketing mix. The
success of any product depends upon the appropriate promotion mix. Promotion is the component of a company's
marketing system that involves delivery of messages to target customers that emphasizes the benefits of your brand,
products and services. To reach its promotional goals, a company develops an effective promotional mix, which is a
combination of strategies including advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing and public
relations through a cost effective allocation of resources. To promote a product to large retailers that sell its products,
a manufacturer might want to use a mix of personal selling, advertising, and buying discounts. This is known as the
push policy. (The manufacturer pushes the product to the retailer.) The same manufacturer might use a different
promotional mix of local and national advertising, in-store displays, sales promotion, and public relations to reach
consumers. The pull policy directs promotions towards the consumers. Advertising is the communication relayed
from companies to persuade an audience to purchase their products. This communication is usually through various
forms of paid media -- TV and radio commercials, print ads, billboards and more recently, product placements, social
media and online ads. Ads are placed where advertisers believe they will reach the largest, most relevant audience.
The marketer must consider AIDA model while communicating the product to the consumer it consists of attention,
interest, desire and action
Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose
ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace
and the underlying motives for those actions. Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to
buy particular goods and services, they will be able to determine—which products are needed in the marketplace,
which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods to the consumers. The study of consumer behaviour assumes
that the consumers are actors in the marketplace. The perspective of role theory assumes that consumers play various
roles in the marketplace. Starting from the information provider, from the user to the payer and to the disposer,
consumers play these roles in the decision process. Consumer behavior can be broadly classified as the decisions and
actions that influence the purchasing behavior of a consumer. What drives consumers to choose a particular product
with respect to others is a question which is often analyzed and studied by marketers. Most of the selection process
involved in purchasing is based on emotions and reasoning. The study of consumer behavior not only helps to
understand the past but even predict the future. The below underlined factors pertaining to the tendencies, attitude and
priorities of people must be given due importance to have a fairly good understanding of the purchasing patterns of
consumers.
In 2017, India had 331.77 million internet users. This figure is projected to grow to 511.89 million internet users in
2022. This majority of internet users are youth especially university students, who regularly use the social network
sites through their mobile phones, either searching for information or chatting with friends online. This study used a
sample of these university students from the main campus to determine and explain the relationship between
internet advertising and consumer behaviour. The students come from a diverse background and were ideal in
studying various characteristics related to consumer behaviour. Students are enrolled in different study programmes
through fulltime and module II, with some operating from outside the institution while others have residence within
the university leading to variability in exposure to advertising.

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2. Literature Review:
This section provides, through selective reference to some of the literature, a clearer understanding of
Internet advertising concept and outlines previous research findings on the effectiveness of internet
advertising based on measures of advertising effectiveness.
Emotional appeals in advertising theory and classical conditioning theory in learning consumer behaviour
form the theoretical basis of this study. Extensive academic research has been conducted on the psychology
of emotion (e.g., Lazarus 1984) and the ways in which ad-evoked feelings may influence consumer response
to marketing communication (e.g., Batra and Ray 1986; Holbrook and Batra 1987). Scholars have also
observed that advertising may evoke both positive and negative emotions when seeking to persuade. Indeed,
Brown, Homer and Inman (1998, p.115), suggest that from a practical perspective, “the relative strength of
positive and negative feeling effects potentially could guide advertisers’ decisions regarding executional
strategies.” It has been suggested that ads use positive affect to make consumers like the ad and then buy the
product, and negative affect to evoke an uncomfortable state that makes consumers want the “solution”
offered by the advertiser (Aaker, Stayman and Hagerty 1986). Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that
what the consumer actually experiences will be the affective response the advertiser intended to create:
Research has shown that this kind of mismatch between advertiser intentions and consumer response occurs
all too often (Cotte, Coulter and Moore, 2004; Englis 1990; Stout, Homerand Liu 1990). These insights
notwithstanding, a number of fundamental questions remain unanswered with respect to ad appeals. Why,
for instance, do these appeals induce such powerful consumer responses in certain cases? What causes them
to be more or less effective on consumers? With specific reference to internet advertising, this study will
attempt to answer these questions.
Gorn (1982) tested the effects of a positive unconditioned stimulus on product preference. His results
support the notion that the simple association between a product (conditioned stimulus) and another
stimulus such as music (unconditioned stimulus) can affect product preferences as measured by product
choice.
As a new advertising channel the Internet and particularly the World Wide Web (WWW) portion of the
Internet, are challenging traditional forms of mass media advertising (Hoffman and Novak, 1996; Hearn,
Mandeville and Anthony, 1998). The Internet offers an interactive alternative to mass media communication
through the use of web pages, discussion groups and email (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Schlosser et al.,
(1999) surveyed a national sample of over 400 participants and found no majority opinion of Internet
advertising-about a third of the participants liked, disliked, and felt neutrally toward Internet advertising
respectively. Korgaonkar and Wolin (2002) examined the differences between heavy, medium, and light
web users and concluded that “heavier users hold stronger beliefs about and attitudes toward Web
advertising which likely lead to stronger purchase intent” (p: 201). Similarly, Ducoffe (1996) found that
Internet advertising was perceived to be informative, entertaining, useful, valuable, and important.
The Internet has contributed to a greater adoption of integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategies,
by allowing marketers to communicate more directly with individual consumers (Low, 2000). The
application of the IMC concept involves the progression away from the traditional one-to-many marketing
communication model for mass media to the one-to-one communication, or many-to-many communication
model (Hoffman and Novak, 1996).
The influence of the Internet on business-to-consumer (B2C) relationships has introduced a new dimension
of interactivity to the communication industry (Shiva, 1997). Berthon, Pitt and Watson (1996, p. 53) argue
that the WWW represents a “remarkable new opportunity for advertisers and marketers to communicate
with new and existing markets in a very integrated way.” As a result, consumers are now becoming
interactive and more active participants in advertising and marketing processes (Hoffman and Novak, 1996;
Hoffman, Novak and Chatterjee, 1997).
(Danaher and Mullarkey (2003) examined the effects of such factors as viewing mode, visit duration, text
and page background complexity, and the style of banner ads on both aided and unaided recall. The authors
did not find any significant impact of the web site context factors on advertising recall. The key finding was
that the duration of page viewing is a strong determinant of the ability to recall banner ads; however, a
minimum level of exposure (around 40 seconds per page) is required to achieve a reasonable level of
advertising recall. Dreze and Hussherr (2003) also examined the effectiveness of ad characteristics on the
ability to recall ad. In contrast, Yoon (2003) found that banner image is more significantly effective than
text to assess consumers’ preferences toward online ads. In terms of consumer responses in the form of
liking online ads, researchers such as Goldsmith and Lafferty (2002) and Metha (2000) have found that a
more favorable attitude towards ads can lead to a higher ability to recall ads. Goldsmith and Lafferty (2002)
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found a significant relationship between positive responses to web sites and the likelihood of recall the
brands advertised on the web. Metha (2000) made a similar conclusion but the study was based on print
advertising performance. Click-through rate is a widely used measure for assessing the effectiveness of
banner advertising, which is the average number of times a viewer clicks on a pop-up ad and is then exposed
to the target web site (Dreze and Hussherr, 2003; Faber, et al., 2004). As reported by Cho (2003), “the
banner advertisement click-through is believed to be the most common way to draw consumers into a target
site and engage them with a brand or product.
Warner emphasized the consumption related behaviours are often undertaken collectively. For example,
some activities performed by individuals but consumed by a family or group of people, similar as
organization purchasing activities usually followed by group decisions. Beside this point, the consumer
behaviour is not just purchasing, but has usage and disposal the goods, this type of information always be
useful for company to make marketing decisions (Malcolm). The black box model shows the interaction of
stimuli, consumer characteristics, and decision process and consumer responses. The buyer’s black box
contains the buyer characteristics and the decision process, which determines the buyer’s response.
Measuring customer behaviour is a crucial part of any business. Knowing what the consumer wants and
how he acts is vital in terms of product design, and marketing (Todd, 1997).
The evolution of the Internet as a global communication infrastructure (Cae, 2000) has created a new
advertising channel for advertisers and advertising agencies to utilize and will provide advertisers with the
means to more cost effectively target their promotional messages to consumers. Companies should aim to
strengthen customer interactions with advertisements on the Web, keeping both context and cognition in
mind.
As consumers experience and respond to stimuli around them, emotions arise. Their reactions manifest
themselves as physiological changes they experience as feelings. People become conditioned to ignore the
ever-present ads on Web sites, which is called ad blindness (Wolhandler, 1999).
Advertising and promotion offer a news function to consumers. As Yoo W., Suh K. and Lee M. (2002)
mentioned in their report, personal interactions with other customers and service providers play a very
important role while shopping online
Consumers have a rational response to advertising when they look at the features of a product or service.
This response focuses on a logical listing of all the functional aspects of the offering. This is an Intellectual
response, rather than an emotional one (Lee, 2002).
Repeated advertising messages affect consumer behavior. Behavior that stems from reminders includes
suddenly thinking of a product while shopping and making a decision to buy it, as if it had been on the
consumer’s "to-do" list (Lee 2002). Consumer behavior splits between loyalty and alienation depending on
how well the product lives up to its advertised benefits (Thorson, 2000).
The Cannon-Bard Theory that Walter Cannon and Philip Bard advocated suggests human beings feel
emotions first, and then act upon them. When customers visit a Web site, the ads they encounter evoke an
emotional response—before they even decide what their next step should be. If ads don’t trigger customers’
emotions, they may not take any action in response.
Based on the review of the research studies mentioned above, it is clear that Internet advertising is gaining
much attention and should be an essential part of a marketer’s advertising media mix. The inconclusive
findings call for further studies on Internet advertising to gain more insight into consumers’ response and
perception of the Internet as an advertising medium. Hence, this study determined the effectiveness of
internet advertising as an ad medium, and its relationship to consumers’ response e.g. online purchase
decision.
3. Research Problem
Corporations/Firms/Agencies/Corporate understand the importance of internet advertising Internet advertising
consists of commercial content formats through video clip, print, and audio; either solicited or unsolicited and
includes company web sites, corporate logos, e-mail messages, pop-ups, banner ads, skyscraper ads, buttons,
interstitials, hyperlinks, dynamic media, and interactive games (Ducoffe, 1996; Goldsmith and Lafferty, 2002;
Korgaonkar and Wolin, 2002; Wolin and Korganokar, 2003). With the advent of 4G mobile technology, internet
becomes a powerful toll and one stop point for consumers in finding most of their needs. App-based technology
increases the impact of online advertising. Internet serves as a panacea for all their requirements. Most of the users
glue themselves and access on regular basis. The basic research problems are defined below:-
1. Millions of consumers are online everyday for their personal work, but have they noticed the ads, banners
etc., displayed on the webpage, and
2. What is their recall value at the time of purchasing?
3. What about the reach of online advertising.
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4. Is Internet Advertising effective to all consumer groups?

While a lot of research has been done on advertising, the effectiveness of online advertising goes on changing and
point of study that whether the consumer notice/prefer/recall the ads, and how it effect the consumer buying process.
This research paper is based on finding the answer of these problems.

5. Research Objectives
The objectives of the study were to;
1). To assess the effects of internet advertising on Consumer Behaviour.
2) To check the reliability of internet advertising through recall.
3). To assess the relationship between internet advertising and purchase decision.
6. Value of the Study
The study may benefit marketers, businesses, government and academicians. This study may be able to inform
marketers on the consumer preference of the advertising media and whether using Internet adverting would be
effective in reaching and increasing awareness of the target audience.
Before adapting marketing practices to the Internet, it is imperative to understand the characteristics of the online
customers towards online advertising as would be revealed by this study. The Internet has grown in popularity as an
advertising medium because, among other things, it allows 24-hour interactivity between the advertiser and customer.
It is important for local businesses to look into internet advertising as more consumers turn to the internet for their
purchasing. A small business that can offer online purchasing may be able to tap into this customer base. The
government from this study would understand the value of internet advertising and its influence on consumer
decisions which ultimately impacts electronic commerce/trade, and therefore would effectively regulate how internet
advertising is delivered by acting rationally on laws that would restrict data usage, creating an ambient environment
and availing resources to internet providing companies and at the same time safeguarding the interest of consumers.
For scholars and academic researchers, the current study forms a basis upon which future research on Internet
Advertising may be established. The findings may be resourceful in providing viable information to academicians,
researchers and consumers on various concepts related to internet advertising.
7. Research Methodology:-
The research methodology provides a detailed description of the research approach adopted in this study. Research
design, target population, research instruments, data collection and analysis methods used were presented in the
subsequent sub-section:-
7.1. Population of the Study
The University of Delhi, informally known as Delhi University (DU), is a collegiate public central university, located in
New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly. As a collegiate university, its
main functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and affiliated colleges. Consisting of
three colleges, two faculties, and 750 students at its founding, the University of Delhi has since become India's
largest institution of higher learning and among the largest in the world. The university currently consists of 16
faculties and 86 departments distributed across its North and South campuses. It has 77 affiliated colleges and 5
other institutes with an enrollment of over 132,000 regular students and 261,000 non-formal students. This study
targeted undergraduate students of the University of Delhi because of their background diversity and exposure to
advertising with a larger percentage using the internet. Students of the University of Delhi are provided with the
Internet access through wireless connection, and therefore, the chances for them accessing online advertising via
social media are very high. On the same basis of their diverse background, only undergraduate students from the Main
campus were chosen for this study.
7.2. Sample Design
Stratified sampling technique was used to select the units for study. 100, module I and II undergraduate students of
the University of Delhi Main campus was used as a study sample to represent the population of consumers. This
sample was stratified into each of the three years of study and respondents were randomly selected from each stratum
to come up with the representative sample of 100 for the entire population. This was a viable sampling technique
since it gave the advantages of focusing on important subpopulations and allowed the use of different sampling
technique for different subpopulations in improving the accuracy of estimation.
7.3. Data Collection
The research made use of primary data, which was collected using structured questionnaire distributed to the 100
respondents sampled from the University of Delhi main campus, found outside the library, from classes, within the
university square and within the hostels. The administered questionnaires were collected after completion by the
respondents on the same day and their responses used for analysis. The questionnaire had both open ended questions
to enable guide the respondent through filling of the questionnaire as well as probe them for more information.
7.4. Validity and Reliability
Content validity refers to the extent to which an instrument represents the factors under study. To achieve content
validity, questionnaires included a variety of questions on the knowledge of students on internet advertising and

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consumer behaviour. All the subjects completed the questionnaires in the presence of the researcher. This was done to
prevent subjects from giving questionnaires to other people to complete on their behalf. Reliability can be ensured by
minimizing sources of measurement error like data collector bias. Data collector bias was minimized by the
researcher’s being the only one to administer the questionnaires, and standardizing conditions such as exhibiting
similar personal attributes to all respondents, e.g., friendliness and support. Pilot testing was carried out by the
researcher to identify any flaws on the questionnaire to reduce errors of measurement and test for consistency.
7.5. Data Analysis:-
1. The study applied both nominal and ordinal scale to measure a range of factors establishing the
effectiveness of internet advertising on consumer behaviour and an interval scale in determining the
relationship between internet advertising and consumer behaviour.
2. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze this data. The mean responses, standard deviation and other
relevant statistics were computed to better understand the data.
3. The data collected was compiled and edited to check for logical inconsistencies. The data was then coded
according to the responses. Relationships between responses was assessed and presented using tables and
graphs and analysis was done using SPSS.
4. Regression and Correlation analysis was applied in this study to reveal relationships among variables in the
findings from the data.

8. Data Analysis and Presentation:-

This section presents analysis and findings of the study presented in tables, graphs and charts as appropriate with
explanations being given in prose thereafter, as set out in the research methodology. The results were presented on the
effects of internet advertising on consumer behaviour. The study objectives were; to determine the effects of internet
advertising on reach and creation of awareness; to establish the reliability of internet advertising through recall;
and to determine the relationship between internet advertising and purchase decision.
The study firstly sought to determine and analyze the general information on the respondents involved in the study
with regards to the year of study and age. The demographic information points at the respondents’ suitability in
answering the questions on the effects of internet advertising on consumer behaviour. The respondents were asked
to indicate their year of study. The study findings are illustrated in Table 1.
Table No: 1
Distribution of the respondents by the year of study
Frequency Percentage
Ist year 15 15
IInd Year 14 14
IIIrd Year 17 17
Post 4 4
Graduate/Researcher
Total 50 100
Source: Field Survey
As shown in table 1, the sample of the study represented all the years of study with the third year students
constituted 17 % which is the highest proportion of the sample, and First year constituted 15% and second year
constituted 14%, and post graduate and researcher forming 4% only. Further, the respondents also asked to
indicate their age bracket. The study findings are given below in Table 2.

Table No: 2
Distribution of the respondents by age brackets
Age bracket Frequency Percentage
19-28 41 82
29 and Above 9 18

Total 50 100
Source: Field survey

The findings indicate that 82% of the students at the University of Delhi were aged 19-28 years and 18 % were aged
above 29. The first objective of the study was to determine the effects of internet advertising on reach and creation of
awareness. The study sought to establish whether the respondents were aware of various forms of advertisements
adopted by various companies. Majority of the respondents attested to being aware of various forms of advertisements
adopted by various companies. This illustrates that the effects of internet advertising on reach and creation of
awareness was determined by the level of knowledge about the existing platforms of advertisements adopted by
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various companies. The respondents were asked to indicate their attitude towards advertisements. Table 3 illustrates
the study findings.

Table No: 3
Effects of Internet Advertising on Reach and Awareness
Frequency Percentages
Informative 16 32
Creates 14 28
awareness
Entertaining 12 24
Irritating 3 6
Annoying 3 6
Waste of time 2 4
Total 50 100
As shown in Table 3, most of the respondents (32%) indicated that advertising was informative, and a closer
percentage 28% indicating creation of awareness, and 24% found entertaining. 16% indicated that advertising was
either irritating, annoying or a waste of time. These findings mean that most of the respondents had a positive
attitude towards advertising as illustrated by their various perceptions about the use of advertising. This clearly
shows a positive attitude toward advertising and hence is a good indication for marketers. In order to further
identify the effectiveness of internet advertising on reach and creation of awareness, the respondents were
requested to indicate the amount of time spent on various platforms of advertising. The responses were rated on a
five point Likert scale where: 1=less 1hr, 2=1 - 2hrs, 3=2 - 4hrs, 4=4 - 6hrs while 5=over 6hrs.
Table No:-4
Time spent on various platforms of advertising
Mean Standard Deviation
T.V./Movies 2.42 1.241
Newspaper/Magazines 1.11 1.372
Radio 1.03 0.927
Internet 4.21 0.515

According to the findings in Table 4, on an average, a person spends more than 4 hours on the internet during his
free time which is more than that of TV and movies, radio and print medium. Hence, on an average the exposure of
internet to an individual is around 40% more than that of other mediums i.e. the reach of medium internet is much
better than that of others. The second objective of the study was to establish the reliability of internet
advertising through recall. First, the respondents were asked whether they would check an online advert
and the findings presented in the Table
Table No: 5
Checking an online advert
Frequency Percentage
Yes 11 22
No 39 78
Total 50 100

In case of online advertising, majority (78%) of consumers ignored the advert completely while 22% indicated that
they would check an online advert. Further the study found out that, out of the 22%respondents, further said that
the intention was not to see the ads, but they didn’t have any option but to see them as they were Interstitial
Adverts, Pop – up ads or Floating ads. These ads either block the view of the content, or appear right in the middle
of the page, or keeps on floating (moving) around which is considered to be very irritating for the consumers.
Checking the ads determined the level of interaction with the online ads. Therefore, even though the reach of
internet is much higher than that of other modes, its ability to attract consumers for awareness creation is very low.
The respondents were further asked to indicate their purpose of using internet. The study findings are illustrated in
Figure 6:-

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Table No: 6
Internet Usage
Purpose of Using Percentage
the Internet
Chatting and 18
Social Networking
E-mail 30
Information 25
Entertainment 12
E-Commerce 1
Downloading 14

As shown in Figure, 30% of the respondents used internet for E-mail, 25% for information, and others for chatting
and social networking, indicating that communications has been the fundamental value of the internet to
consumers. There was a higher chance of interaction with various online ads as reflected by the diverse usage of
internet. To establish the reliability of internet advertising through recall, the respondents were asked to indicate
whether they would recall the last three TV and online ads.
Table No: 7
Ad Recall
Recall Frequency Percentage
T.V. Yes:-84 Yes:84
No:- 16 No: 16
On-line Ads Yes:-30 Yes: 30
No:-70 No: 70
Total 100 100

This is for the last three ads that they had seen consciously or unconsciously. In case of TV ads, 84% remembered
their last three ads which is a very good score in terms of creating awareness. In case of online ads, only 30% could
remember their last three interactions with the online ads. Therefore, one can easily make out the reliability of
online and TV ads recall values. The study found out that TV ads are much reliable than internet advertising and
other forms of advertising.
The third objective of the study was to determine the relationship between internet advertising and purchase
decision. Respondents were asked to indicate the mode advertising that mostly influenced their decision to
purchase a product. The results were tabulated in Table No: 8

Table No: 8

Advertising Modes influencing the Intention to Buy

Frequency Percentage
Magazines and Newspaper 17 17
Friends and Relatives 40 40
TV commercial 29 29
Online Advertisement 6 6
Social Media 8 8
Total 100 100

Based on Table 8 above, the highest number of students, 40% of the respondents were influenced to buy a product
based on information provided by friends and relatives, with TV commercials being second. Online advertisements
were least in influencing their decision at 6%. Therefore, friends and relatives were the major influencers behind
decision making. This depicts that traditional form of advertising has an edge over internet advertising in terms of
consumer preference to mode of advertising. Secondly, the respondents were also asked to indicate whether the
internet ads they came across influenced their purchase decision. The majority of respondents indicated that the
internet ads they came across never influenced their purchase decision while someone of them also claimed that
the internet ads they came across influenced their purchase decision. This depicts that the internet advertising

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influenced purchase decision of the customers to a moderate extent as only nearly half of the respondents were
influenced purchase-decision.
In order to further determine the relationship between internet advertising and purchase decision, the respondents
were requested to indicate their level of agreement on relevant statements on effects of internet advertising on
purchase decision. The responses were rated on a five point Likert scale where: 5-To a very great extent, 4- To a
great extent, 3-To a moderate extent, 2-To a little extent, and 1-To no extent. The mean and standard deviations
were generated from SPSS and presented in Table:-
Table No: 9
Statements on Internet Advertising and Purchase Decision
Statements on Mean
Internet Advertising and Purchase Standard
Decision Deviation
Statements on Internet advertising and
purchase
Decision
Internet advertising influences 4.21 0.513
customers’ purchase decision
duration of page viewing is a strong 4.13 0.746
determinant of
the ability to recall banner ads
Animation content, the shape of the 3.92 0.841
banner ad, and
frequency of the ad (repetition) leads
to higher advertising recall
Companies should aim to strengthen 4.11 0.62
customer interactions with
advertisements on the Web
Most companies provide a generic 4.01 0.62
experience to all customers rather than
relying on customer analysis to deliver
a personalized experience.
When customers weigh benefits, they 4.050 0.673
become
Emotionally involved with advertising
and promotion.
Repeated advertising messages affect 3.98 0.847
consumer behavior. This repetition
serves as a reminder to the consumer.

The study established that Internet advertising influences customers’ purchase decision (Mean=4.21) and duration
of page viewing is a strong determinant of the ability to recall banner ads. Other factors as repeated advertising
messages affect consumer behavior. This repetition serves as a reminder to the consumer (Mean=3.98), and that
animation content, the shape of the banner ad, and frequency of the ad repetition leads to higher advertising recall
.This implies that the internet advertising is a key determinant of purchase decision of the customers as they
consider it to be an interaction point between them and the company from which they buy their products from.
In determining the effectiveness of internet advertising on consumer behaviour, the study conducted a multiple
regression analysis to determine the nature of relationship between the variables. The regression model
specification was as follows:- Y=α+β1X1 +ε. Where; Y= consumer behaviour X1= internet
advertising ε= error term β=coefficient α= constant
The study further applied multiple regressions to determine the predictive power of the internet advertising on
consumer behaviour. The researcher conducted a multiple regression analysis so as to test relationship among
variable (independent) on the consumer behaviour. The researcher applied the statistical package for social sciences
(SPSS V 17.0) to code, enter and compute the measurements of the multiple regressions for the study.
Coefficient of determination explains the extent to which changes in the dependent variable can be explained by the
change in the independent variables or the percentage of variation in the dependent variable (consumer behaviour)
that is explained by the independent variable (internet advertising).

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Table 10
Model Details
Model R R Square Adjusted R Std. Error of
Square the Estimate
I 0.919 0.845 0.789 0.6273

The independent variable that was studied, explain only 84.5% of the consumer behaviour as represented by the R2.
This therefore means that other factors not studied in this research contribute 15.5% of the consumer behaviour.
Therefore, further research should be conducted to investigate the other factors that affect consumer behaviour.
Table No:-11
ANOVA of the Regression
Model: 1 Sum of Df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Regression 2.534 50 1.267 9.475 000a
Residual 9.307 200 2.327
Total 11.841 250

The significance value is 0.000 which is less than 0.05 thus the model is statistically significance in predicting how
internet advertising affects the consumer behaviour. The F critical at 5% level of significance was 3.23. Since F
calculated is greater than the F critical (value = 9.475), this shows that the overall model was significant.
Table No:-12
Coefficient of Determination
Model 1 Unstandardized Standardized T Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 1.147 0.2235 5.123 0.000
Internet 0.752 0.1032 0.1032 7.287 .000
advertising

Multiple regression analysis was conducted as to determine the relationship between consumer behaviour and the
one independent variable (internet advertising). As per the SPSS generated table, regression equation
(Y=α+β1X1 +ε) becomes: (Y= 1.147+ 0.752X1+ ε)
According to the regression equation established, taking all factors into account (internet advertising) constant at
zero, consumer behaviour will be 1.147. The data findings analyzed also shows that taking all other independent
variables at zero, a unit increase in internet advertising will lead to a 0.752 increase in consumer behaviour. This
infers that internet advertising contribute most to the consumer behaviour. At 5% level of significance and 95% level
of confidence, internet advertising was a significant, factor in predicting the consumer behaviour.
To quantify the strength of the relationship between the variables, the study used Karl Pearson’s coefficient of
correlation. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (or Pearson correlation coefficient for short) is a
measure of the strength of a linear association between two variables and is denoted by r. The Pearson correlation
coefficient, r, can take a range of values from +1 to -1. A value of 0 indicates that there is no association between the
two variables. A value greater than 0 indicates a positive association, that is, as the value of one variable increases
so does the value of the other variable. A value less than 0 indicates a negative association, that is, as the value of
one variable increases the value of the other variable decreases. The data presented before on internet advertising
was computed into single variables per factor by obtaining the averages of each factor. Pearson’s correlations
analysis was then conducted at 95% confidence interval and 5% confidence level 2-tailed. The Table below indicates
the correlation matrix between the internet advertising and consumer behaviour.
Table No: 13
Correlation matrix and the coefficient of determination
Consumer Behaviour Internet Advertising
Consumer behaviour (r) 1.000
(p) Sig. (2 tailed)
Internet advertising (r) 0.894 1.000

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(p) (2 tailed) 0.018
According to the Table, there is a positive relationship between consumer behaviour and internet advertising of
magnitude 0.894. The positive relationship indicates that there is a correlation between the consumer behaviour
with internet advertising. This notwithstanding, all the factors had a significant p-value (p<0.05) at 95% confidence
level. The significance values for relationship between consumer behaviour and internet advertising was 0.018. This
implies that internet advertising was a significant factor on consumer behaviour.
9. Conclusions:
The study established that the effects of internet advertising on reach and creation of awareness was determined by
the level of knowledge about the existing platforms of advertisements adopted by various companies. Most of the
respondents had a positive attitude towards advertising as illustrated by their various perceptions about the use of
advertising. This clearly shows a positive attitude toward advertising and hence is a good indication for marketers.
The study established that even though the reach of internet is much higher than that of other modes, its ability to
attract consumers for awareness creation is very low. The study concludes that the reliability of internet advertising
through recall was low as only a small percentage of the respondents could recall the online ads they had seen. The
study found that TV ads are much reliable than internet advertising and other forms of advertising. The study
established that friends and relatives were the major influencers behind decision making. This depicts that
traditional form of advertising has an edge over internet advertising in terms of consumer preference mode of
advertising. Traditional mode got high preferences than that of internet advertising which is a huge margin. The
study established that internet advertising influenced purchase decision of the customers to a moderate extent as
only nearly half of the respondents were influenced purchase decision. The study established that internet
advertising is a key determinant of purchase decision of the customers. The study also established that internet
advertising has significant relationship with purchase decision of the consumers. Internet advertising was effective
in providing higher reach and creation of awareness. However, in spite of the diverse usage of internet and wide
interaction with various internet advertisements, fewer respondents were able to recall the internet ads they had
seen. This implies that the reliability of internet advertising is quite low. The study also concludes that internet
advertising has significant relationship with purchase decision of the consumers. The study further concludes that
internet advertising contributes most to the consumer behavior and that internet advertising was a significant factor
in predicting the consumer behaviour. In addition, there is a positive relationship between consumer behaviour and
internet advertising. This implies that companies should invest more in internet advertising to increase their market
share and conduct a market research on the different markets in various countries to ensure that the internet
advertising initiatives being implemented suits the targeted markets to improve product purchases. The study also
found that internet advertising is effective in reach and creation of awareness and recommends that the companies
should invest more in internet advertising to increase their market share and provide product information. Finally,
the study determined that there is a positive relationship between internet advertising and consumer purchase
decision and further recommends that companies should conduct a market research on the different markets in
various countries to ensure that the internet advertising initiatives being implemented suits the targeted markets to
improve product purchases.

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