T
tz4689
Audiophyte
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[I]Contest Question: Do you feel that tasteful banner ads on websites are an effective form of advertising when you’re actually in the market for the type of product being advertised? Where (specifically) do you do most of your product research when considering a home-theater-related purchase? [/I]
That's a good question, what defines tasteful. I can't stand banner ads that scroll down the page requiring me to close them out before being able to see the rest of the page. That is an extremely annoying feature that more and more pages are using.
Regarding where I do my research regarding A/V products. I search here, AVSforums, and Home Theatre Shack for most of my questions, first hand user reports, and reviews. I trust my fellow Audioholics more than the "professional" reviews on CNET, etc.
I do find the advertisements useful and do use them. If a company makes the effort to help support the forums that us the consumers use for very valuable research and reviews I definitely support them by purchasing from them. The majority of the information is accessable free of charge. I'm sure the sponsors make this possible.