Adobe has put out some more research into online advertising. This time it’s not an Index of the market but a poll of 1,250 U.S. consumers and marketers’ views on online advertising. The survey makes amusing reading at times — almost half of the respondents agree ‘online advertising is creepy and stalks you’, and more than half agree that ‘most marketing is a bunch of B.S.’. The poll also underlines the ongoing problem with online ads failing to capture people’s attention — only in-app/in-game ads fared worse in the battle for consumers’ attention, with print-based ads and TV commercials grabbing far more consumer mindshare
Almost a third of consumers (30 percent) think online advertizing is not effective, while more than half (54 percent) reckon web banner ads don’t work. Unsurprisingly a smaller percentage of marketers held those views (16 percent and 33 percent respectively).
A sizeable majority (66 percent) of consumers polled believe TV commercials are more effective than online advertising. The two most preferred places to look at an ad are print magazines and when watching a favourite TV show. But a favourite website was third in the list, just above billboards — albeit only favoured by 11 percent of consumer respondents.
“Annoying” and “distracting” were the two most frequently used adjectives to describe online ads, the survey found. A marginal two percent of respondents claim never to have seen an online ad
On the social media front, the survey found a small majority (57 percent) of consumers have “liked” something on social media on behalf of a brand they enjoy. More than half (53 percent) said they would very much like to have a social media “dislike” button.
When survey respondents were asked what they would do if they saw a friend like a product on social media, almost a third (29 percent) said they would check the product out, five percent said they would like the product themselves and a click-happy two percent reckoned they’d buy the product right away
In terms of which types of ads are considered most effective, the survey found a large proportion (28 percent) of respondents rated user-generated content as an effective ad medium. Paid search listings are considered the least effective — with just three percent of consumers rating them as effective
