Online Ad Clutter Reduces Effectiveness and Brand Opinion

Digital/Online

December 2008 -- According to a survey from Burst Media, an online media company, ad cluttered websites not only annoy their audience they diminish ad effectiveness.
 

Nearly 30% of the 4,000 U.S. adults surveyed say they will immediately leave a website they perceive to be cluttered with ads, and more than 75% of those who remain on cluttered sites pay less attention to the ads featured there.

One out of two survey respondents state they have a less favorable opinion of an advertiser when their advertising appears on a web page perceived as cluttered.
 

Ad clutter’s negative impact on respondents’ opinions increases with age. Less than half of respondents 18-24 years were impacted negatively by clutter, while two-thirds of respondents age 55 were unfavorably impacted.
 

Burst Media defines ad clutter as the overcrowding of a web page with advertising units to the point of degrading the web users’ experience.
 

About:  The survey was administered to over 4,000 U.S. web users with the purpose of better understanding how ad clutter impacts a web users Internet experience, as well as its impact on the perception of advertisers who place ads on cluttered sites.

Sources:  Burst Media, BURST MEDIA STUDY REVEALS THAT 80% OF WEB USERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT PRIVACY ONLINE, February 19, 2009  and MediaBuyerPlanner, Ad Clutter Reduces Effectiveness, Degrades Brands, Dec. 15, 2008.