Untapping Value “Below the Fold”

Sphere works with a number of publishers to display related content links from their archives. Typically, the results are displayed at the end of an article in a space commonly referred to as “below the fold”. While a bit counter-intuitive, displaying links below the fold is ideal. We’ve tested placement in a number of areas and the space immediately following an article yields the highest click through rates. While important data for our partners, it’s interesting as part of a larger conversation around the evolving viewpoint that “below the fold” is no longer the forgotten wasteland of Web 1.0 days. Milissa Tarquini wrote an excellent article titled “Blasting the Myth of the Fold“. All this has me thinking that advertising “below the fold” is much more compelling than ever before because:

1. This is where readers comment which engages readers at a very different level;
2. This is where readers participate in new engaging features like polling, video inks or finding additional content links;
3. There is little to no advertising there unlike above the fold where there is a lot of stuff happening and readers have learned to “tune out” ads;
4. The CPM for “Below the Fold” advertising is heavily discounted making the ROI very competitive or advantageous; and
5. Scrolling is also associated with web 2.0 design because big, clear text and “spacious”, “clean” content implies longer web pages.

Please share your thoughts with us.

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