Web billboards -- usability of viz/interaction; examples

Hi all,

I'm looking for examples of and usability research about web billboards that appear on homepages of corporate sites. I'm especially interested in any usability testing that you've done regarding billboards, and about web analytics regarding alternative approaches to billboard designs.

Let's say there are two high-level categories of web billboards, static and interactive:

Static billboards

• Static billboards whose images and text illustrate a single concept -- for example, http://www.johnhancock.com/
• Static billboards that illustrate multiple concepts and use some kind of divider between them -- for example, http://www.etsy.com/

Interactive billboards

• Carousels with multiple frames that advance based on user gestures -- for example,  http://pacificlife.com/
• Interactive billboards that use multi-second delays between frames --  for example, http://marthastewart.com/
• Hybrid cases of timed advancement and user control -- for example, http://marthastewart.com/

Thanks in advance for your help!

Paul Turner
User Experience practitioner