Paid media and measurement · Randomized online field experiments
Advertising Spillovers: Evidence from Online Field Experiments and Implications for Returns on Advertising
Sahni, N. S. (2016). Journal of Marketing Research, 53(4), 459–478.
Plain-English take
Ads increased sales likelihood for the advertiser and also for nonadvertised restaurants that served the same cuisine and had high ratings. For your marketing: When evaluating category advertising, account for the possibility that your spend increases category interest while also helping alternatives.
How much weight to give this
4.0/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Random assignment provides a strong comparison for effects in the tested setting.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Randomized comparison; confirm the control condition and analysis in the paper.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Blinding is not reported in the source reviewed; that does not establish whether blinding was or was not used.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How do online ads affect both the advertiser and competing options considered by customers?
Design
Analysis of randomized advertising field experiments on a restaurant-search website, varying advertising exposure intensity.
Sample and setting
Restaurants listed on a restaurant-search site; detailed sample counts are not given in the accessible abstract.
Reported result
What the study found
Ads increased sales likelihood for the advertiser and also for nonadvertised restaurants that served the same cuisine and had high ratings. Spillovers were largest at lower ad intensity and disappeared as intensity increased.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Restaurant search is a specific high-choice local market, and the abstract gives no sample counts. Spillovers in this setting may not predict competing software categories or paid search auctions.
Possible founder application
When evaluating category advertising, account for the possibility that your spend increases category interest while also helping alternatives. Incrementality and competitor outcomes matter alongside attributed conversions.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text may require access
SAGE publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; no full text inspected.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.