Ad Clutter Reduces Effectiveness, Degrades Brands

Nearly 30% of online adults will immediately leave a website if they perceive it to be cluttered with ads, and more than 75% of those who remain on cluttered sites pay less attention to the ads there, according to a survey from Burst Media.

The survey of 4,000 web users found that cluttered sites not only annoy the audience, they diminish ad effectiveness and ultimately do a disservice to the publisher, the advertiser and the visitor, Burst Media said (via Marketing Charts)

Though respondents accept that advertising will appear on websites, the majority (52.6%), say they have low tolerance for any more than two advertising units per page. Another 27.3% say they will tolerate only a single ad per web page, and slightly more than one-quarter (25.3%) will tolerate just two ads per page.

The survey also found that ad clutter has a negative impact on consumers’ perceptions of an advertiser’s products and services:

• One out of two (52.4%) respondents has a less favorable opinion of an advertiser when their advertising appears on a web page they perceive as cluttered.
• One-half (56.4%) of women claim clutter negatively impacts their opinion of an advertiser, versus 48.3% of men.
• Women also are more likely than men to abandon a site that appears cluttered (32.1% vs 27.5% of men).

Ad clutter’s negative impact on respondents’ opinions increases with age. Less than half (46.8%) of respondents 18-24 years were impacted negatively by clutter, but nearly two-thirds (63.2%) of respondents age 55+ were unfavorably impacted.

Burst Media defines ad clutter as the overcrowding of a web page with advertising units to the point of degrading the web users’ experience.