Ad Blocker Survey: Intrusive Ads Can Negatively Impact Users

No matter where you go online, you’re likely to run into some online ads. There are plenty of different types of ads. And companies like Google have made incredible sums from selling the ad space. But now, the company may be considering incorporating an ad blocking feature into its Google Chrome browser, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. This may seem counterintuitive, but it could potentially help people avoid ads that have too much of a negative impact on the browsing experience. So what do consumers think of how online ads impact their experience online? And how many would consider using ad blockers to avoid certain ads? We asked 1,000 respondents about their thoughts on ad blockers and online ads.

Online Ads

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 37% of respondents said that they consider social media ads to be most effective. 36% think that visual banner ads can be effective. 29% like search ads. 24% think that video ads you can’t skip over before getting to videos on YouTube or other platforms are most effective. 21% like regular video ads. Another 21% think that autoplay video ads are effective. 16% think that pop-up ads can be effective. Another 16% think that ads that show before you can visit a particular website are effective. Just 9% think that autoplay audio ads are effective. And 18% think that none of those online ad types can be effective. On a different note, 70% of respondents said that they think pop-up ads are unacceptable or intrusive to their online experience. 54% think that video ads you can’t skip over are intrusive. 49% dislike autoplay video ads. 48% feel the same about autoplay audio ads. 47% think that ads you have to view before getting to a particular website are intrusive or unacceptable. Just 20% find social media ads to be disruptive to the user experience. 17% dislike visual banner ads, search ads and regular video ads.

Ad Blockers

Overall, 47% of respondents said that they currently use some kind of ad blocker. 23% said they’ve used one in the past. And 31% of respondents said that they’ve never used an ad blocker. However, 75% of respondents said that they would be at least somewhat likely to use an ad blocker if they start to notice more online advertisements that they consider to be intrusive or disruptive to the user experience. Additionally, Google Chrome appears to be the most popular browser among consumers. 78% said that they regularly use Chrome as their browser. 36% use Firefox. 28% use Internet Explorer. And 21% use Safari. And 46% said that they normally browse using a laptop or desktop computer. 23% usually browse using a smartphone or mobile device. And 31% use computers and mobile devices pretty equally.

Browsing Experience

In general, 80% of online consumers agreed that online ads impact their experience on certain websites. 64% said they would prefer to never come across any ads online. 44% think that online ads can actually be helpful to consumers. And 41% said that they’ve made purchases because of online ads in the past.

Key Takeaways

Although it may seem like a weird strategy, incorporating an ad blocker into the Google Chrome browser may actually be a positive step for the company. If it can provide an easy ad blocker that hides intrusive types of ads like pop-ups, it might improve the user experience for people as they browse the web and come across other ad types that they don’t mind as much, like visual banner ads and search ads. Additionally, providing a built-in ad blocker could make people less likely to go and seek out third-party solutions. Since the majority of people say they would use an ad blocker if they notice more intrusive ads like pop-ups, eliminating that possibility could be a good step. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Google Chrome, the world’s smallest browser? by Andy Li under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on May 15 via AYTM’s online survey panel.