Do You Ignore Banner Ads?

In a recent AdWeek article, “Ignoring Internet Banner Ads: The oft-maligned promo unit takes yet another hit,” Mark Dolliver analyzes the results of a recent Adweek Media/Harris Poll  where 43 percent of Internet banner ads were sited to be the most ignored by Internet users. Dolliver continues to discuss that even the 18 to 34 year old demographics were “about as likely as their elders to pick banner ads” as the online media vehicle to be ignored.  Furthermore, 21 percent of this same demographic reported that “search-engine ads are the genre they’re likeliest to ignore.”

Dolliver switches to investigating consumer’s tendencies towards traditional advertising when looking to television ads. Unsurprisingly, 20 percent of the 55 years and older demographic selecting this genre as the most ignored, while only nine percent of the 18 to 34 years old demographic chose this genre as the most ignored. This was followed by 14 percent of 45 to 54 years old demographic and 13 percent of the 35 to 44 years old demographic.

Despite the fact that specific banner ads can be targeted towards the most qualified and relevant audience, I personally worry that consumers do not find banner ads to be worthwhile of their time and thus prefer to ignore these ads.