Do images beside ads produce better results?

Some sites seem to be switching

[farmboy]

I know this has been discussed previously and there seems to be some disagreement on the finer points of using images beside ads.

But as an observation, I've noticed that three newspapers that I read online daily that used to have AdSense ads have replaced AdSense with another brand of ads that have a small image (usually picture of a person)just to the left of the ads.

I wonder if that's a good strategy for newspapers or just a good strategy in general? Those pictures sure get my attention every time I visit and I've seen some of them hundreds of times now.

FarmBoy

[marcel]

Better results for the Publisher? or for the Advertiser?