A Majority of Users Ignore Internet Ads More Than Other Ads
Despite the Internet’s heralded usefulness for targeting ads and reaching the right consumers, a recent Adweek Media/Harris Poll survey found that the majority of adults in the U.S. say they disregard Internet ads more than they ignore ads on other media.
The survey of 2,098 U.S. adults found that 63 percent said they ignore or disregard Internet ads the most of any type of ads. Among this group, 43 percent say they ignore banner ads the most, and 20 percent say they ignore search engine ads the most.
Meanwhile, 14 percent of respondents said they ignore television ads the most, and 7 percent said they ignore radio ads the most.
A paltry 6 percent said they ignore newspaper ads the most, while 9 percent said they don’t ignore any of these types of ads the most.
There are, of course, differences when these numbers are parsed by gender, age and education, though they are often minimal. For instance, 42 percent of male respondents say they ignore Internet banner ads the most, compared with 45 percent of female respondents. For search engine ads, the male/female split was 20 percent/21 percent.
Fifteen percent of male respondents said they ignore TV ads the most, compared with 13 percent of female respondents. For radio ads, the male/female split was 7 percent/8 percent. For newspaper ads, the male/female split was 6 percent/5 percent.
Respondents between the ages of 35-44 are the most likely to ignore online banner ads, as the survey found that 47 percent of U.S. adults in this age group said they ignore these ads the most, while 42 percent of adults between 18-34 said they ignored these ads the most.
For Internet search engine ads, 21 percent of those between 18-34 and 35-44, respectively, say they ignore these ads the most, while 20 percent of respondents 55+ and 19 percent of those 45-54 said the same.
The differences by age were more pronounced for TV ads. While 20 percent of respondents 55+ said they ignore these ads the most, just 9 percent of respondents between 18-34 said the same. Fourteen percent of respondents between 45-54 said they ignore these ads the most, along with 13 percent of respondents 35-44.
Eleven percent of respondents 18-34 said they ignore radio ads the most, while 5 percent of respondents 45-54 said the same.
Newspaper ads are ignored the most by 7 percent of those between 18-34 and 7 percent of those between 45-54, while 4 percent of those 35-44 and 5 percent of those 55+ said the same.
Respondents with more education are more likely to ignore ads on the Internet, those with less education are more likely to ignore TV ads and radio ads.
“Although almost all Americans say they ignore some ads (91%), this does not mean it’s a lost cause for advertisers,” according to the press release. “Rather, companies looking to effectively reach consumers may just need to educate themselves and tailor their messages – as well as their chosen medium – to best appeal to the desired group.”
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