Radio advertisers have been relying on earlier research that showed that as much as one-third of their audience switch stations during advertising breaks. But the authors of a forthcoming study in JAR, available now online, claim that number is misleading. Their new benchmark—about one-tenth of current estimates—could attract greater investment in this advertising medium.
Member Only Access
An empirical study of Facebook data has broad implications for advertisers on social media platforms. This research found a link between consumers’ response to ads and their perceptions about intrusiveness and privacy concerns—as well as whether they were using a computer or mobile device.
Member Only AccessGoogle’s Chrome will now block all ads on sites that don’t adhere to the ad quality standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that counts Google, Facebook, P&G, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and the Association of National Advertisers among its members.
Google surveyed more than 25,000 consumers in Europe and North America on dozens of ad formats and ranked them by how “annoying” they found each one. They tested 55 desktop ad formats and 49 mobile formats and presented the findings to the group. Ultimately, the coalition defined 12 ad experiences that will trip the blocker across desktop and mobile, including pop-up ads, autoplay video with sound, prestitial ads with and without countdown clocks, large sticky ads, full-screen scroll-overs and flashing animated ads. Also, full-page ad interstitials, ads that unexpectedly play sound, and flashing ads.
on the upper right of the web site or create an account to view this page.
Germany is an important market for ad blocking because their use of the technology is believed to be relatively high. Many online publishers and marketing executives look at Germany as an indicator of how ad blocking adoption could spread in the U.S.
According to PageFair, which sells technology to help publishers combat the effects of ad blocking, 25% of internet users in Germany used ad blockers in 2015, compared with 15% of users in the U.S.
The declines could also suggest that publishers’ anti-ad-blocking initiatives are having an impact. Multiple publishers in Germany and around the world have begun asking users to disable ad blockers when visiting their sites, and some websites have even refused access to users who have ad blockers switched on.
The guidelines do not restrict consumers independently choosing to download ad-blocking apps from the App Store, but carriers themselves will not be able to introduce network-level ad blocking.
Omnicom Media Group (OMG) report finds that publishers and advertisers can take steps to curtail the growing usage of ad blockers.
The survey found that many ad-blocking users don’t dislike all advertising. But the report showed that consumers are motivated to avoid ads that interrupt their browsing experience. Nearly half (45%) install ad blockers to avoid dealing with pop-up ads, 40% do not want to be “bombarded” with ads, and 30% want to block pre-roll ads that prevent access to content.
Consumers would disable their ad blockers if the website promised non-intrusive ads (35%), if ad blockers prevented access to content (19%) and in order to access content on sites with ads (13%).
“Ad blocking as a phenomenon is likely here to stay in some fashion, but there are ways to reduce consumers’ motivations for using ad blockers, and therefore minimize its impact,” says Pamela Marsh, director, primary research and insights, OMG.
We interviewed Jasper Snyder, EVP, Research & Innovation: Cross-Platform, from The ARF who provided his perspective on Ad Blocking/Fraud and the key takeaways from 8 of those AM sessions with industry leaders.
What were some of the highlights for you of all of the discussions and presentations on these areas?
There were lots! Ted McConnell (Rocket Fuel) was fascinating in how he talked about recognition of the problems here. He’d figured out that ad fraud, in terms of size, is basically the equivalent of there being 5,000 bank robberies per day. Ted also spoke about our mindset regarding fraud, making the point that we have to focus less on combating fraud per se than about combating its effects, namely by developing an immune system. “I don’t care how many fraudsters are out there, because if I can see them, discount them, and not pay them, they don’t matter,” Ted said. This is particularly important given how quickly the “bad guys” can react – if there were a solution outlined on the stage at AM, by the very next day the fraudsters would have figured out how to defeat it.
A compelling ad experience could stop users adopting ad blockers; however, users have many more reasons for screening out ads. Mostly users find ads intrusive, and since the launch of ad blocking software on mobile devices, they are able to spend more of their online time in an ad-free environment.
As more users are adopting adblockers every year, the industry has been slow to react. Subscription services like YouTube Red, and premium/freemium models like Spotify, highlight the drive to respond to user demands for an ad-free experience. The issue with these services is that paying for them has to deliver a better UX than ad blockers, which are most often free. This is perhaps the most significant challenge marketers have to face this year: convincing users to pay to avoid ads.
Ad fraud on mobile devices has been less frequent than on desktop PCs, mainly because there is less money invested into mobile ads at this time, i.e. of the $60 billion spent on internet ads in the US in 2015, only $21 billion was spent on mobile, according to PwC. This lower levels of mobile ad spending translates into slimmer revenue opportunities for mobile ad fraudsters.
However, this will change in the coming years, as more money piles into mobile ads.
A corollary effect of malware and ad fraud is that it also encourages ad blocking adoption. Over 40% of consumers stated that they use ad blockers to protect themselves against malware and viruses, according to a recent survey by Optimal.com and Wells Fargo. Mobile ad-blocking usage is high and growing fast: over 419 million people worldwide according to a study by PageFair.