Contents, animation or interactivity: neurophysiological correlates in App advertising

Little is known on the effects of contents, animation and/or interactivity in app banners. To understand the impact of these proprieties, a multimethod neuroscientific experiment was conducted. Subjects were asked to use a news app (with articles on actuality, health and environment), programmed by the research team with randomized stimuli on a smartphone. 4 types of ads, obtained from the 2x2 matrix made by crossing the proprieties of animation (static/dynamic) and interactivity (interactive/not interactive) were proposed. Cortical oscillations and autonomic indices were monitored using electroencephalography and biofeedback on millennials (n=18). Findings showed that dynamic banners and the actuality theme evoked an increased theta band activity in the left hemisphere, interpreted as higher emotional engagement. Also the increase in beta and alpha activity for actuality contents may reflect a bigger attraction of users’ selective attention. Thus, firstly animation should be present as a leading element in the ad. Secondly the platform selection should not be delegated to the Demand Side Platform.