Use Of Ad-Blocking Technology Doubles

Found on Information Week on Tuesday, 05 December 2006
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In the past two years, the number of consumers using pop-up blockers and spam filters has more than doubled, according to a new study, "Consumers Love to Hate Advertising," from Forrester Research. More than half of all American households now report using these ad-blocking technologies to block unwanted pitches.

Broadband households have become even harder to reach: Some 81% of those with high-speed Internet access employ pop-up blockers and spam filters.

And that distaste is strong. "Only 13% of consumers admit that they buy products because of their ads, and a paltry 6% believe that companies generally tell the truth in ads," the report states.

Forrester also notes that ad avoidance is becoming more common on television. Today, 15% of consumers acknowledge using their digital video recorders to skip ads, more than three times as many as in 2004.

All the ads you have to put up with are more than enough. I never would buy something just because of some annoying blinking banner; same goes for TV ads. Quite the contrary: I try to avoid intrusively advertised products on every chance. But then I'm not really up-to-date with current TV spots since I always zap away.