Two new studies being released Wednesday promise answers to some of the questions that plague marketers about online advertising. In particular: do online ads drive purchases? And how? Research from male-centric entertainment site Break.com claims, naturally, to understand men’s online behavior. The company, which commissioned the study by Hall and Partners, polled a national sample of roughly 500 males between 18- and 34 who go online at least once per month. Break found that 59 percent of males notice online ads, while 47 percent made a purchase as a result of one.

—Where the men are: networking and gaming: The cohort clearly loves the internet, with 69 percent saying they can’t live without it and just 31 percent saying the same for TV. As for what they’re doing online, the study says—no real surprise—going to social nets (63 percent), playing video games (60 percent), playing computer games (51 percent). Further down the list: checking out blogs and forwarding videos (31 percent each). Lastly, 23 percent say they spend a lot of their time uploading online videos.

—Getting engaged: Speaking of online video, a separate study presented by Forrester at a forum held by internet video site Veoh on Tuesday claims that there’s an appetite for long-form video content. At least that’s true among the most desirable viewers, the one’s Forrester identified as “engaged,” which the researcher applied to individuals who spend over an hour a week on the web. Forrester, which surveyed over 1,000 internet users and checked responses against ongoing research project, found that the engaged viewers make up 40 percent of online video watchers. They also watch over 75 percent of all online video.

—That’s ad-vertainment: So now that the coveted group of online video viewers have been tagged, how do you effectively reach them with advertising? James McQuivey, a VP and principal analyst at Forrester who presented the research,, advised making “advertainment, not entertainment.” Aside from making it look like a video, McQuivey said that one of the most annoying aspects of online advertising is repetition.