As click-throughs hover below 1 percent and Internet marketers debate the branding effect of banners, research by AdRelevance has learned that the majority of all online ads and impressions are geared toward branding.

Branding ads (positioning, awareness, and feature/benefit) account for 63 percent of all online ad units and 54 percent of all impressions, according to AdRelevance. Within the branding category, ads generating awareness garner the most impressions (33 percent of all impressions), followed by ads positioning the brand (20 percent), and ads promoting a feature or benefit of a brand (1 percent). Among direct marketing ads, those driving traffic (28 percent of all impressions) are more prevalent than ads driving sales (17 percent).

Industries leading the branding charge are entertainment (73 percent of impressions devoted to branding); hardware and electronics (83 percent); retail (64 percent); Web media (63 percent); automotive (56 percent); and travel (54 percent). On the other hand, industries focused more on direct marketing include telecom (72 percent of industry impressions devoted to direct marketing); financial services (60 percent); consumer goods (61 percent); and business-to-business (54 percent).

"Online advertising is no longer just about click-through. Although industry and financial analysts have relied on click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of online ad campaigns, the market has finally realized that click-through is not an appropriate metric for brand-oriented ads," said Charlie Buchwalter, VP of media research for AdRelevance. "Leading advertisers have already drifted away from the click-through mentality of pure direct response marketing, as AdRelevance data show that a full 63 percent of the ads are brand-oriented. As streaming and rich media comer more into play, the Internet will increasingly function more like a traditional branding medium -- making advertising on the Web more appealing to all, especially traditional companies who have mastered offline brand management strategies."