Here’s When Consumers Pay More Attention to Online Ads

 The digital ad industry has grown tremendously over the past decade or so, but in spite of the fact that this is the case many consumers have started to zone out of any ads that they see online. Ignoring ads has become commonplace among a rather wide range of consumers, and Yahoo has collaborated with OMG to ascertain when they might not pay attention and in what situations they would be more likely to with all things having been considered and taken into account.

According to this research, while 53% of ads meet the minimum standards required for viewability, they weren’t able to acquire even a single second of active engagement. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there is a big difference between an ad being viewable and it actually commanding active attention from consumers.

This research involved analyzing around 128,000 ads, and they were sorted into three different rankings. The highest ranking involved active consumption with eyes fixed on the ad in question, followed by passive attention wherein the eyes are on the screen but not focused on the ad itself, and finally non-eyes ads that make it so that users don’t pay attention to the screen at all.

Interestingly, active attention doesn’t seem to be impacted by what time of day the ad gets posted. Ads got an average of 1.6 seconds of attention regardless of time of day, and what's more is that the day of the week didn’t have a huge impact on active attention either. Passive attention is influenced somewhat by these factors, but the differences aren’t significant enough to be worthwhile.

1.6 seconds of active attention are not enough to allow marketers to get good results from their advertising campaigns. They need to aim for a minimum of 2.5 seconds of active attention because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up increasing their click through rate.

However, since changing up post timings is not going to have an appreciable effect on active engagement, what then can marketers do? One suggestion that was made is that marketers could go for shorter ads. Video based ads that are 15 seconds long or shorter facilitated a whopping 280% increase in active attention. That is a huge uptick that marketers should be cognizant of when they are planning their campaigns out.

Another factor that can be influential in this arena is that of the age of the target consumer. Active attention tends to decrease among younger users, with baby boomers giving about 2.1 seconds of active attention on average which is far higher than the 1.3 seconds that is commonplace among Gen Z respondents who are between the ages of 18 and 24.

Conversely, gender has been found to be somewhat inconsequential since active attention remains consistent regardless of the gender identity of the users being targeted. All of these things are essential for marketers to keep in mind if they want actual engagement instead of impressions. Such factors must be accounted for, otherwise digital marketing would become virtually worthless which is concerning given how expensive it has become as of late.

Younger consumers pay more attention to online ads, survey finds

Dive Brief:

• Attention to online ads often depends on the age of the viewer, according to a press release about the second in a series of reports on ad experience from digital ad platform RevJet. Among 18-to-44 year olds, there’s a 47% increase in attention compared to 2018, but only 7% for those 45 and older. For Facebook ads, the increase is 49% for the younger set and 25% for the older crowd. But, for YouTube ads, there’s a 38% increase over 2018 for 18-to-44 year olds, compared to an 85% increase for those 45 and older.
• Both age groups are maintaining the status quo for skipping video ads, with 2% less for each, compared to 2018. And both are more accepting of auto-play video ads, with a 43% increase in acceptance among 18-to-44 year olds and 143% increase in acceptance for those 45 and older.
• The report also found that consumers aged 45 and older are buying 38% more online products now compared to 2018, while there was only a 9% increase in online purchases by 18-to-44 year olds during the same period.

Dive Insight:

• RevJet’s findings point to a couple of positive trends for digital marketers and arrive amid new research showing that digital ad revenue topped $100 billion for the first time last year. Younger consumers paying more attention to ads is particularly noteworthy, as this group has, in the past, been shown to have a penchant for using adblockers or simply ignoring ads. Both millennials and Gen Z are big users of adblockers, according to separate research. However, when researchers take a more granular approach there are indications that Gen Z is interested in some forms of advertising, particularly out-of-home and video.

  It’s also interesting that older consumers are becoming more comfortable with shopping online. This supports other recent trends like CPG brands putting a bigger focus on direct-to-consumer offerings and a surge in shoppable digital ad formats.

  However, the report also underscores some of the ongoing challenges in digital media, in particular concern over data privacy. Eighty-six percent of both age groups combined expressed concern about digital privacy, although there’s a slight age split: 18-to-44 year olds are becoming more concerned, but those over 45 are becoming less concerned.

  Another key takeaway from the RevJet report is that marketers need to keep their digital content relevant and avoid putting the same creative in front of consumers as they move around web properties. More than 90% of those 45 and older dislikes a company that is repeating an ad or whose ads are not aligned with the viewer’s interests or situation. But, among the 18-44 set, only about 68% would feel negatively toward such an advertiser.

  Conducted online in January, the survey sampled 1,000 individuals aged 18 and older in the U.S.