BMRB on Attitudes to Online Ads

People generally claim not to be responsive to advertising, whether the ads are online or offline. However, BMRB has found new evidence suggesting that a core of people are in fact positively responsive to online ads. This is
according to findings in BMRB's latest Internet Monitor and TGI.Net survey.

The research shows that seven-tenths of Internet users say that they never respond to banner ads, and four-fifths say that they never respond to pop-up promotions. Of course, for much online advertising, the stated objective is often to affect branding rather than to gain response. This aside, it does appear that the majority of Net users view online ads in a negative light.

In this sense, around half of adults were found to disagree with the statement 'advertising helps me choose what I buy' (TGI).

The new research does suggest this is not strictly the case for all types of users though. BMRB asked Net users whether they thought that online ads are more relevant to them than other types of adverts. A tenth agreed to this. A quarter agreed that 'banner ads help me to find interesting things on the web', suggesting that for a large minority, banner ads are viewed as sign-posts and as such, are part of the infrastructure of the web. Around a fifth said that they like to receive emails from companies.

Compared to Internet users as a whole, those positively liking ads are disproportionately male, aged under 35 and heavy users of the Internet (use most days). This group is arguably a highly attractive one for many advertisers. BMRB believes that this young profile is a pattern seen for advertising in other media. They suggest that among the under 35s, for example, more people are likely to say that 'advertising helps me choose what I buy' than among the over 35s.

The new data also reveals that people who are banner ad friendly are also more reachable via other media. For example, thirty percent of all adults say that they notice ads in newspapers and magazines. Among those that are positive towards online ads, this proportion rises to two-fifths. A fifth of adults say that they often notice ads on the radio. This level also increases to over a quarter amongst those that are positive to Internet advertising. Interestingly, this group are also more likely to say that they notice poster ads and find TV ads interesting.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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