According to a new study, six out of ten UK adults aged 18-33 will visit online content that appeals to them even if it is clearly an ad. This is a figure that rises to 63 per cent when just looking at 18-24 year olds.
The study looked at 1,000 people and found that written feature articles are the type of paid-for online content that most adults prefer to see, (32 per cent of users), followed by list-based articles, (24 per cent) and videos, (17 per cent).
Ben Williams, Head of Operations at Adblock Plus, comments:
“What this survey demonstrates is that millenials are interested in online ads so long as they are served non-intrusively. Online users want good content – content that is interesting to them – and they are just as interested when this content is paid-for, so long as they feel in control.
“Online consumers, especially millenials, are becoming increasingly aware of the differences between editorial and paid-for online content, and because of this, transparency in online advertising is more important than ever. Users don’t want to feel manipulated or deceived by advertising when they are online, and are much more likely to be open to advertising if they are not. If users are presented with ads that do not intrude upon their experience and these are clearly labeled as sponsored, users are showing us that they don’t mind it being there.
“Advertisers need to take this change on board and focus more on open and interesting content – ads that their users will actually want to click on — rather than intrusive and invasive ones.
“The popularity of ad blocking shows just how eager consumers are to avoid these types of intrusive ads, and with the degree of intrusion, irrelevance and annoyance we consistently see from advertising, everyone involved needs to take a step back and think about what the best content is for their consumers. If we cannot find a middle ground where ads can be delivered without bothering user, we will continue to see these millenials detach from advertising in favour of ad blocking.”
About Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus is an open source project that aims to rid the Internet of annoying and intrusive online advertising. Its free web browser extensions (add-ons) put users in control by letting them block or filter which ads they want to see. Users across the world have downloaded Adblock Plus over 250 million times. It has remained the most downloaded and the most used extension almost continuously since November 2006. In 2013 PC Magazine listed the extension as one of the best free Google Chrome extensions, and it received a 2013 About.com readers’ choice award for best privacy/security add-on.
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