Permanent link for Research Finds "Most Annoying Advertisements" on October 4, 2024

Advertisements are at least a little annoying, and advertisers can even corroborate that idea. However, a new study by the Department of Management Science and Technology at the University of Patras in Greece determined which ads are considered the most annoying by young digital natives.

51 participants were asked to navigate a website, on which various ads were displayed on different pages. Each of the ads was a different style: right rail, right rail animated, non-modal, modal, banner, intra content with content reorganization, and intra content without content reorganization. (See each type below)

After navigating the website, participants were asked which ads were most annoying. The findings concluded that 72.5% of users found the modal (popup) advertisement annoying, followed by intra content with content reorganization ads, which bothered 13.7% of users. Meanwhile, right rail and nonmodal ads were considered the least annoying. 

How does this relate to biometrics?

While the participants were skimming the website, their eye movement was being tracked. The data showed that while individuals were most annoyed by the modal ad, they looked at it extremely quickly when it arrived on screen, looked at it for a long time (relative to other ad types), and dwelled on it for more than 50% of the time it was on screen, nearly 40% higher than the next highest dwell time of an ad, which is intra content with content reorganization. Despite this, it is notable that modal advertisements were rarely revisited, whereas other ad types had a much more significant amount of return views. 

What does this mean for advertisers?

When advertising towards a younger, more technologically literate audience, it is important to consider the negative impacts of advertising. While modal ads may scream “buy me!” and catch every viewer’s attention, the negative impact of interrupting a user’s experience on a website may not outweigh the benefits.

On the other hand, right-rail advertisements are a great way to remain noninvasive while getting a viewer’s message across.

Fun Fact: In this study, participants revisited right rail ads an average of 3.44 times but only revisited animated right rail ads 0.25 times. Next time you create a right rail ad, consider that simple may be best!

Check out the original article here.

Categories: Biometrics Research
Posted by Georgia Hessel on Permanent link for Research Finds "Most Annoying Advertisements" on October 4, 2024.