Exposure to ads drove both online behaviour like brand searches and website visits, as well as offline conversations and purchases among Times digital subscribers, the newspaper has revealed.

The research by News UK Commercial and comScore, dubbed Project Footprint, tracked the online and offline activities of 70 multi-platform subscribers over the course of a month, and revealed strong correlations between what people read, what advertising they are exposed to, and their subsequent behaviour both online and offline.

Compared to a non-exposed control group, ad exposure drove higher online behaviour such as searches and website visits, with cinema ads resulting in 111 per cent uplift, and brands like Marks & Spencer and Lloyds Bank seeing increases of 50 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

Ads also drove offline behaviour, with conversation levels increasing 150 per cent for Burberry, 67 per cent for VW and 36 per cent for Barclays, and offline purchases up 163 per cent for BMW, 80 per cent for VW and 33 per cent for Audi.

“Our proposition is that we deliver the most engaged audiences possible,” said Abba Newbery, director of strategy for News UK Commerical. “This research proves that our audience is at their most engaged and attentive when they are consuming our content, more likely to use search and more likely to take an action.”

“Through this ground-breaking study, News UK and comScore have been able to understand a more complete view of the effectiveness of digital advertising,” said Mike Read, UK senior vice president and managing director of comScore.

“By combining observed behaviour from a single-source panel across PC, tablet and smartphone with word of mouth insight, we have learnt a great deal about how exposure to advertising provokes conversation, reinforces advocacy and drives action. The more evidence we can provide to advertisers and media buyers about the return on investment from brand advertising in engaging environments, the faster we can move away from simplistic, flawed models like final click attribution.”