Member Article

The rise in Age of Ad Avoidance revealed

Leading global mobile advertising network BuzzCity has released new research from its latest global report into the ways in which consumers are avoiding adverts across both digital and traditional channels, their levels of trust in advertising, how advertising influences purchasing decisions as well as which media they are consuming ads on.

The report is issued with the backdrop of Apple’s recent move to allow adverts to be blocked on the Safari browser of its iPhones and iPads; it highlights the trend of ad avoidance, which is being driven by the more discerning consumer wanting to take control of which ads they do and don’t want to see across all media. Add to this the frustration caused by too many adverts (36%) or seeing the same ad too often (30%) and consumers are no longer ignoring ads but taking action into their own hands. Overall in their consumption of media, 22% of mobile surfers use more than one ad-avoidance technique.

The report also reveals a fine line between advertising being actionable and invasive. Among the most influential forms of advertising are on internet (27%), online video (23%) and TV (23%); the latter remaining high despite the rise of digital media. Interestingly, the report also condemns all three as the most invasive.

The top five ad avoidance methods are:

• 30% changing channels on the TV or radio to minimise exposure to ads
• More than a quarter (28%), pay to avoid ads, subscribing to Pay TV or Video on-demand services
• 26% use browser pop-up blockers when online
• Internet ad-blocking software is used by 26% of respondents when online
• Direct mail is discarded by 24%

Dr. KF Lai, CEO and Founder of BuzzCity comments: “Consumers are living in an age of ubiquitous advertising and are responding to this by working out ways to filter what advertising they want to see, hear, and listen to. Ad avoidance is not a new phenomenon however with a more discerning consumer, brands and agencies need to respond to it and treat their audiences as individuals, targeting ads more carefully.

Lai continues “When executed correctly, we know that advertising provides value for brands and is fuelling purchasing decisions – our research shows that one in five mobile consumers claim to use advertising to make purchasing decisions on a monthly basis, and up to a third (33%) of respondents do so weekly.”

The report also shows that digital media continues to go from strength-to-strength; with 67% of users confirming they are most likely to take note of internet advertising and 42% to mobile advertising ahead of magazines, 21% and radio, 20%.

The full report can be accessed here: http://www.buzzcity.com/l/reports/The-BuzzCity-Report-Vol-5-Issue-4.pdf

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by BuzzCity .