Study: Sports Illustrated iPad Ads Outperform Print

Ads in the iPad edition of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue were more memorable to readers than ads in the print edition and generated more reader actions, according Affinity’s syndicated Vista service. Ads in the iPad edition generated 21 percent higher recall than ads in the print edition, while reader-action scores—registering actions such as visiting the advertiser’s Website, getting a more favorable opinion of the brand or, in the case of iPad editions, clicking on the iPad screen—were 34 percent higher than in print.

How much of the iPad ads’ impressive effects reflects novelty or other factors, however, remains unclear.