Understanding Online Interruption-Based Advertising: Impacts of Exposure Timing, Advertising Intent, and Brand Image

Interruption-based advertising has gained prominence in the online channel. Yet, little attention has been paid to deriving design principles and conceptualizations for online interruption-based advertising. This paper examines three novel design factors related to this phenomenon, namely, exposure timing, advertising intent, and brand image. Exposure timing pertains to the time by which the advertisement (ad) is launched within a website. Advertising intent refers to the explicitness of ad content in portraying the desire to induce purchase behavior. Brand image relates to consumers' overall perceptions of the advertised brand. In a laboratory experiment, participants were exposed to pop-up ads that were operationalized based on these three design considerations. Results reveal three two-way interactions among the study constructs. Online interruption-based ads shown in the predecisional shopping phase are more effective when their contents are designed with implicit advertising intent compared to explicit intent. Brand image is found to moderate the effects of advertising intent on consumer's purchase intention. Participants' responses also show that ads promoting weak brands with less favorable image tend to enjoy higher purchase intention when shown in the predecisional phase compared with the postdecisional phase. Theoretical and practical implications together with suggestions for future research are discussed.