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Majority of users frustrated by disruptive ads, aware of ad blocking [Survey]

84 percent of respondents said ad interruptions were too frequent.

Greg Sterling on April 18, 2016 at 4:06 pm

The cat-and-mouse game between publishers, advertisers and consumers may soon turn into an outright cat fight. A new global consumer survey from Accenture shows growing consumer frustration with ads and a desire of some to opt out of ads entirely.

Survey respondents, which are supposed to be representative of their respective countries’ digital populations, expressed irritation with the number of ads and the way they interrupted content experiences. In particular, consumers were annoyed with ad interruptions in video content.

This irritation translates into a willingness to pay to remove ads, a la YouTube Red or Hulu’s No Commercials premium plan. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents expressed a willingness to pay to remove ads from video content.

In the chart below, 42 percent said they were planning to pay to opt out of video ads. (The study doesn’t break out PC vs. mobile experiences with ads.)

Finally, 61 percent of respondents said that they were aware of ad-blocking tools or “systems.” There were apparently no questions regarding ad blocking intentions. However, an earlier IAB study found that simple awareness often leads to ad blocking usage. Ad blocking is highest among Millennials and high-income earners.

While there’s very little in this Accenture survey that hasn’t been previously discussed, its scope and the degree of hostility to ads in its findings are striking. The study consisted of 28,000 interviews from respondents in 28 countries. Harris Interactive executed the survey in Q4 2015.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.