Enter the world of online focus group research. The focus group logistics are cheaper online. Opinions are honest. In a room with 12 people, one dominant person can intimidate a room of cowards into his way of thinking. In an online focus group, each person can voice his or her own opinion in the comfort of their own home.
Results are instant.
Traditional focus group reports can take days to tabulate. Each member of an online focus groups can see the ads on his or her own computer, in their standard work or play environment, using a computer that is familiar to them in a surrounding that matches the one in which they would see the ad. You can't say that any of those factors would occur in a traditional focus group setting. So the results will match real-world expectations. With so much money riding on the success of online advertising, it makes sense to test the ads with a group of people who can signal its success or failure.