Click-through rates are falling, new figures reveal.

According to a study conducted by Adtech, 0.18 per cent of adverts attracted clicks from European internet users, the lowest proportion recorded since 0.33 per cent in 2004.

Chief executive Dirk Freytag claimed that although click-through rates tend to "oscillate", the recent low figures were due to users becoming increasingly "used to online advertising during the last years".

Mr Freytag added that banner advertising is now "commonplace", with the likes of video marketing, layer and leaderboards now increasingly being used by marketers to draw attention and encourage clicks.

Video advertising was reported to attract a click-through rate of 4.6 per cent.

However, Adtech revealed that British users had a higher than average rate, accounting for 0.2 per cent of clicks.

Last month, the Click Quality Council suggested that advertisers looking to make best use of their pay-per-click campaigns should target their adverts on certain criteria such as location and time.