Marketing News: Bigger is not always better: Consumers ignoring ads on large portals

News Release from: Addvantage Media
12/02/2010
online advertising, niche websites, search engines, ad placement, consumer engagement, Addvantage Me

Consumer responsiveness to adverts on large sites, such as MSN, Tiscali and Yahoo, has shown a marked reduction since early 2009 as brands are placing too much stock in the advertising reach of generic portal sites, according to Addvantage Media's annual Online Advertising Report for 2010 which polled 2,232 British consumers with YouGov.

Addvantage Media’s 2010 Report found that 88 per cent of consumers rarely or never pay attention to adverts displayed on these big portal sites, whilst only one in ten claims that they pay attention to adverts displayed all or some of the time. This is a reduction of 40 per cent since last year’s Online Advertising Report where 37 per cent of respondents claimed to pay attention to these types of adverts.

Young consumers losing patience with portal sites

Young professionals are the most likely to visit niche websites with 58 per cent of 25 to 34 year olds saying that they go there to get information  Only one in four (28 per cent) of this age group named big portal sites such as MSN as an  online information source – down 28 per cent since last year’s report.

This decrease indicates a shift in preference that is mirrored throughout all age groups, most significantly within the 18 to 24 demographic where there has been a 40 per cent decline in the number of respondents choosing to gain information from big websites such as MSN, Tiscali, Yahoo etc.  sites since last year’s report (42 per cent in 2009 and 25 per cent in 2010).

Harvey Sarjant, Managing Partner at Addvantage Media and member of IASH steering committee commented, “The findings from our 2010 Online Advertising Report provide vital information for brands looking to increase the effectiveness and return of their online advertising. There is a common and misplaced assumption that you only have to buy advertising space on three networks to cover all of the market.

The fact is that while about 20 per cent of UK sites, the major portals, may have exposure to a wide market, to reach a genuinely responsive market segment, brands need to be aligning themselves with relevant, niche interest sites.

It’s plain that the majority of audiences are paying very little attention to adverts on the major portals and this is becoming even more the case year on year.”

Trust and content is key to advertising effectiveness

The most common reason that respondents gave for clicking on adverts displayed on niche websites (bar monetary value of the product being advertised – 31%) was the belief that the website is endorsing the product being advertised (12%).

Almost half (49%) of those who prefer to use niche websites feel that specialist websites have more engaging content than larger sites like MSN while 45 per cent agree that niche websites dedicated to specialist interests host better quality content to read and watch than larger portal sites. This figure increases to 59 per cent for 25 to 34 year olds and to 51 per cent with affluent ABC1 consumers. Of respondents who prefer specialist sites, almost two thirds (65%) stated that this is because they trust niche websites, to give them accurate and relevant information on topics that they are interested in.

Sarjant continued, “The research clearly shows that niche sites have more active, engaged and supportive users who are therefore more likely to interact with relevant advertising. The smarter brands realise this already and recognise that campaigns can’t just be based on a criteria of placing ads on high traffic sites – to elicit genuine interest and a propensity to purchase, ads need to be intelligently matched with niche content.”