Around the world, consumers and marketers alike believe that traditional media such as newspapers and TV are better advertising sources than digital platforms such as websites, social media pages and blogs, finds Adobe in new data from its “Click Here: The State of Online Advertising” report. The new data builds on previous research conducted within the US (results covered here), by expanding into the UK, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, and South Korea and offering a global average from all the countries. But while consumers and marketers are in agreement that traditional media sources are better for advertising and more credible sources of information, consumers tended to rate traditional media higher, while marketers were comparably more favorable to digital sources.
For example, consumers were more likely than marketers to choose traditional media sources such as newspapers and TV as best for advertising (47% vs. 41%), and also more likely to see their family, friends and co-workers as influential (31% vs. 22%). By contrast, marketers hold a higher view of company websites (24% vs. 18%), social media pages (13% vs. 9%) and blogs (11% vs. 8%), among others.
What’s more, consumers were 52% more likely than marketers to agree that online advertising is not effective (32% vs. 21%). And roughly half of consumers believe that web banner ads do not work, compared to 36% of marketers.
Part of the problem facing online ads is that they are often viewed as “annoying” or “distracting,” according to the earlier research results (see link above). In this latest study, consumers ranked the following as their top 5 most annoying marketing and advertising sources (in descending order):
- Phone calls from marketers;
- Pop-up ads;
- Ads before online videos;
- Text message ads; and
- Ads in applications/games.
The least annoying types (starting with the least):
- Advertorials in newspapers and magazines;
- TV commercials;
- Product placements in movies/TV shows;
- Google search ads; and
- Traditional mail advertising.
About the Data: The data points referenced above come from a study commissioned by Adobe, produced by research firm Edelman Berland and conducted as an online survey among a nationally representative sample of the population of each country. The study is based on interviews with 8,750 consumers and 1,750 professional marketers across the United States, Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, France) and Asia-Pacific (Japan, Australia, and South Korea). The research expands on the study Adobe initially executed in the United States in October 2012, which surveyed 1,000 consumers and 250 professional marketers to now include seven additional countries. The margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is as follows:
U.S. (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (October/November 2012)
U.K. (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (October/November 2012)
Germany (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (April 2013)
France (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (April 2013)
Japan (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (October/November 2012)
Australia (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (October/November 2012)
South Korea (n=1,250): MOE = +/- 2.8% (April 2013)
