Consumers Have Had It With Digital Ads

Consumers are annoyed with digital marketing. They are seeing too many ads in too many places. Plus, they find those ads overly aggressive, intrusive, and at times, downright creepy.

Americans feel strongly about specific formats. The majority don’t like pop-ups, ads that fill the entire screen, or marketing videos that play automatically—with or without audio. Ads for products they have already purchased are a special type of irritating.

It’s fascinating—and ironic— that in a recent survey, senior marketers revealed they feel almost the exact same way about digital ads they see when they are not in work mode.

While consumers are happy to tell marketers how to fix the problem—only have 2 ads maximum per page, stop interrupting shopping with pop-ups, etc.—they are also solving the problem themselves. Roughly 25% of Americans have installed ad blockers—38% on their PCs, 25% on mobiles, and 15% on tablets— and more are doing so every day.

People who block ads turn to other media for brand discovery. They are more likely than average to consult product review sites, social media personal posts, and brand websites to learn about new products.

Sources: Adweek 2018, eMarketer 2018 & 2019, GlobalWebIndex 2019, Search Engine Journal 2019