Such concepts can be exposed to determine the groups' reactions. Well-received concepts can then be developed into actual advertisements. This gives advertising agencies the ability to do research on new ad campaigns quickly without the hassle of renting out meeting spaces, coordinating times, and paying large sums of money to participants. Online focus groups allows agencies to focus on specific groups of people without those people knowing that they are the specific focus group. It allows agencies real-time feedback on the ad campaign they are researching, broken up by age group, salary, sex, and even geographical area.
Smaller agencies can benefit as well.
In-person focus groups can be expensive and time consuming. Doing your focus group online allows you to find a diverse group of participants inexpensively, and get immediate results with little effort or up-front money. And participants can be paid either in small cash sums, or by complimentary products or services. This is much less than a normal focus group would pay someone who arrived in person.