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Top Apparel Online Advertisers Led by American Apparel

American Apparel ranked as the top advertiser using online display ads among apparel retailers in the United States, with 483 million ads delivered during April, according to a study based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service - MarketingCharts reports.

See table: Top 15 Retail Apparel Advertisers by Total Display Ad Views, April ‘08.

American Apparel delivered 483 million display ad views in April, reaching 49 million internet users an average of 9.9 times during the month.

Under Armour ranked second with 311 million ad views, followed by Snorg Tees (249 million) and L.L. Bean (205 million).

American Apparel Likes Social Media Sites

In April, the majority of display ads for American Apparel were delivered via social media (view table of top 10 publisher properties of its display ads). Nearly half of its ads appeared on top social networking sites MySpace.com (24%) and Facebook.com (19%), while AOL’s AIM application carried nearly 12%.

“American Apparel is a cutting-edge brand, and its online advertising strategy clearly reflects that,” said Evan Neufeld, comScore VP, Advertising Effectiveness. “Using social media as the primary vehicle to drive its provocative ad campaigns has helped it build a strong presence among its core audience of young adults.”

Big Retailers Missing out

Though athletic apparel (Under Armour, Nike, NFL Shop), shoes (Nike, Endless, Skechers), and T-shirts (American Apparel, Snorg Tees, and Busted Tees) are well represented among the top online advertisers, many of the largest apparel retailers are noticeably absent from the list.

“Apparel is one of the largest U.S. e-commerce categories, accounting for roughly 15% of total online retail sales,” said Neufeld. “However, some of the biggest retailers in the category are significantly underrepresented in the online display ad market.”

“Given the internet’s proven ability to drive both online and offline sales, those retailers failing to make use of this growing advertising channel are overlooking a substantial opportunity,” he added.