Internet users hate ads. We all know that, right? Without ads, though, free-to-use websites would disappear. No one can afford to create and maintain an information, education or entertainment venue without generating revenue somehow.
So, ads are a necessary evil online, just as they are in print publications and on broadcast TV and radio.
Most consumers understand the delicate dance between revenue and content, and they’re willing to trade a little irritation for information or entertainment. However, recent research revealed they’re more willing to abide some forms of advertising than others.
In a study of more than 25,000 consumers who rated 104 ad experiences, the Coalition for Better Ads — a consortium of international trade associations and online media companies devoted to improving consumers’ experiences with advertising — determined desktop computer users are most likely to abandon a webpage when they encounter pop-up ads and/or auto-play video ads with sound. Only slightly less likely to annoy users into taking their business somewhere else are prestitial or pre-roll ads with countdown (ads that must be watched for a predetermined amount of time before content is viewable) and large sticky ads.
Mobile internet users have a similar distaste for pop-ups, auto-play videos with sound and prestitials/pre-rolls, but they also are irritated by flashing animated ads, full-screen rollover ads and pages with ad density greater than 30 percent.
Browser makers have taken notice of the data and are fine-tuning ad-blocking software native to their products. Google is leading the charge with the new version of Chrome expected to debut this Fall.
Here’s the kicker: Google penalizes websites that “degrade the user experience” by employing what Google considers intrusive advertising tactics. Reportedly, Chrome’s ad-blocking utility will allow users to suppress all ads, intrusive or not. If users decide not to see any ads on a website, can Google continue to justify that portion of its ranking algorithm?
An even bigger question, which Google hasn’t directly addressed yet, is whether Chrome will allow users to suppress advertising on Google. That could be tricky, considering the search engine’s business model leans heavily on advertising revenue.
Image © Ariel da Silva Parreira.
