Banner blindness revisited

Once again Jakob Nielsen concludes that banner blindness is a de facto phenomenon. Not really surprising for those of us working in the user experience field. But why, then, do they keep using banner ads? If they don't work? Well, the thing is they DO work. People actually click on the things (especially younger ones). The thing is this: only a very small percentage of visitors click on an add. But if the total number of visitors is large enough that small percentage will add up.

Also, don't tell me that marketing people are so studpid that the don't want bang for their bucks. Especially as it is so easy to track and measure. You can actually pay for what you get (i.e. number of click-throughs).