It appears that we humans are quite adaptable. In a relatively short time, nearly all of us have learned to ignore ads on the internet.

The best way to prove this is through eye tracking studies that capture exactly what we are looking at on a web page (left). Those areas in red and orange are what we look at. Areas outside this are being ignored. This human trait does a superb job of filtering out of unwelcome, unrequested marketing messages.

Studies also show that Internet advertising is often less effective that traditional Newsprint, TV or Magazine advertising. As marketing guru Seth Godin has reiterated many times, website advertising is just too easy to ignore and these studies prove just that.

Those spending money online have seen it too like Travelcity CMO Jeff Gluek. " The harsh truth is that online advertising just isn’t getting the job done. The average click-through rate is a measly 0.1 percent, and 90 percent of consumers don’t even notice online ads."

"The average click-through rate is a measly 0.1 percent, and 90 percent of consumers don’t even notice online ads"

To make matters worse for eager online advertisers, ad-stopping browser plug-ins are growing in popularity. Some block 99% of all advertising from ever reaching the intended audience, even though most it seems most would ignore them anyway.

For example, Adblock Plus (Firefox only), gets downloaded over 350,000 times a week. That is roughly 19 million downloads a year. For IE users there’s IE7Pro which has many neat features, aggressive ad blocking being just one. On top of this most popular commercial anti-virus products now include ad blocker as well as popup stopper options. It is also likely that those that install ad blockers skew towards the more educated and higher income brackets – which advertisers covet.

I’ve tried AdBlock and love it. It takes me back to a previous era when the net was all about providing information, not something flashing at me seeking to get attention. It even blocks Google Ads on Google Search Pages (left) as well as all other websites. This isn’t good news for those buying Google Ads each month, making them a less attractive option as the numbers seeing ads could steadily decline!

The very nature of digital communications means it can always be filtered, which ensures an ongoing place for print.

As a growing percentage of the online population are take various measures to filter out both email marketing and web advertising, they will likely wish for the same uninterrupted, spam-free viewing with other digital media, like TV. In the US systems like TiVo and the latest Digital Recorders give viewers immense control over ads. This ability of TiVo users to skip ads was cited as the number one reason most people purchased their system.

Advertisers, Agencies and TV companies are obviously disturbed by these developments. The very nature of digital communications means it can always be filtered, which ironically ensures an ongoing place for print, especially niche magazines and targeted direct mail.

TiVo Lite – The Downunder Edition

But TiVo is finally coming here in 2009. However as if often the case with new technology here, consumers will be short-changed, although advertisers may quietly breathe a sigh of relief. Most notably our broadband infrastructure just isn’t up to the mark yet, being slow and expensive, plus the NZ TiVo package is missing out on the systems number one attraction – The ability to block out or skip advertising! No surprise when we discover that TiVo is being rolled out here by traditional broadcaster, TVNZ.

TVNZ would naturally be the last people to want any drop off in Ad sales, being their prime source of revenue. The fact that you have to pay for the TiVo service doesn’t mean no ads. (We saw this tactic with Sky TV). Understandable, but a pity in our new marketing age, where consumers have grown accustomed to selecting what they watch and don’t watch. Like it or not Mr Advertiser, they want control. They demand entertainment and/or relevant messaging, not to be interrupted by spam.

Still, all is not lost. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and already smart consumers and developers have built [somewhat expensive] systems to get around this, although prices are sure to drop soon. It proves again how adaptable we really are…

And for the Advertisers?

Consumers say they do not trust, want or need advertising…

They’ll need to look at how they advertise and use technology to make their advertising more relevant, right down to the individual, not a broad demographic. Targeted, one-to-one marketing is now readily available for print, email and websites (PURLs) with encouraging results, as outlined in the many articles on this website. It’s less intrusive for the recipient, gives amazing response rates, which means it’s far more cost-effective for the advertiser. With hybrid TV-Online systems like TiVo, the same could in theory be achieved via TV media.

In the short term, websites advertisers should aim to offer their readers relevant, non-intrusive advertising. Personalised ads are possible and interest and response rates do improve. TV advertisers should look at integrating the web much more in their campaigns. Do more cross-media promotions. Use TV ads to send people to a website page built for them – not served up with generic ads that can be filtered. Let the website carry on the conversation, gather data and then feed back more relevant messages via electronic media. And use, don’t discard the data obtained like Meadowfresh did. Remember you’re building a relationship, not just a ‘campaign’.

References:

• Meadowfresh Article
• TiVo NZ article
• Ethics of Ad Blocking
• Personalised Ads give high response
• Last Hope for Online
• Why Advertising is Failing

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