Brands are wasting their marketing budgets on ‘annoying’ and ‘unpleasant’ digital ads that are doing ‘more than harm than good’ according to YouGov’s latest survey.
The polling firm found that a resounding 70% of the public finds digital ads ‘annoying’ and ‘unpleasant’, with a further 72% indicating that bad advertising experiences can significantly affect their perception of a brand.
Conducted in partnership with media platform Picnic, the research finds a direct correlation between excessive and intrusive advertising experiences and a brand’s long-term appeal to customers – with 71% indicating that it would make them less likely to purchase from that brand in the future.
Notably, an overwhelming 86% also highlighted that a webpage containing too many ads made them feel disorientated and more likely to ignore the advertising displayed altogether, identifying it as their primary UX concern, followed by blocked screen content, accidental clicks, slow load speeds, and unstable page content.
“If brands and media planners can shift their approach towards prioritising ad solutions that resolve user experience issues on the web, we as an industry can drastically reduce the amount of ineffective, wasted and even damaging ad spend. This would not only be better for the environment, but would also help to drive more meaningful engagement and returns for brands,” Picnic founder and CEO, Matthew Goldhill said.
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Worryingly for advertisers, a sizeable chunk of respondents expressed a resoundingly negative attitude towards digital ads in their current form, with comments including ‘all advertising is annoying’ and ‘[ads are] annoying full stop.’
This comes despite indications that the public is still fundamentally in favour of an ad-funded web, with the majority of respondents (56%) agreeing that they enjoy reading free content from reputable publishers. Notably – 71% of participants said they’d be more likely to feel positively towards ads if they were fast-loading, and didn’t force clicks or block content.
AKA UK digital development director, Sean Golding added: “Minimising wasted ad spend is a top priority in terms of efficiency and brand safety. To prevent waste and increase engagement, we need to find ad solutions that deliver a positive user experience on trusted, high-quality publishers.”
“It’s a win-win for all. Advertisers will see improved campaign performance, and publishers will benefit from delivering ads that do not ruin their on-page content – keeping their readers engaged and coming back for more.”
