Consumers don't find banner ads relevant and are decluttering online, Adobe report finds
According to Adobe's 2019 Summit Ad Report, there is a major disconnect between consumers and marketers over the relevancy of banner ads.
Adobe ads report finds banner ads are increasingly irrelevant
The report found that 74% of marketers believe their banner ads are relevant to their target audience, a 16% year-over-year increase. However, just 14% of consumers said that banners display relevant ads, and only 35% of consumers reported to have intentionally clicked on such ads in 2018.
What's increasing ad relevancy is the rising use of first-party data. Overall, 46% of consumers believe the ads they now see are more relevant than ads from two years ago.
Over 60% of brands are using first-party data, a 4% uptick year-over-year.
Younger audiences tend to trust their data with brands, too. Between 50% and 60% of Gen Z and millennials trust brands with their personal data if they use it clearly to deliver a better product or experience.
Digital decluttering
According to the report, consumers are increasingly streamlining their online presence.
Over half of consumers surveyed either deleted or reduced time spent on social media apps in 2018, as most of the decluttering has resulted in app consolidation.
Since 2016, mobile app installs have dipped by 36% and app launches have dropped by 9%.
Users are also spending significantly less time on traditional social media.
Digital audio
Over the past year, consumers were 8% more likely to consume digital audio, and a quarter of listeners said they have bought a product after hearing an ad on a streaming music app or website.
Podcast mobile apps have seen a 14% uptick in average minutes per month over the last year. More than 30% of brands are increasing their investments in the medium, as a quarter of consumers said they plan on spending more time listening to podcasts this year.
Overall, 46% of brands plan to invest more in the digital audio space in 2019. Marketers reportedly find that conversion and lift awareness are the two key metrics to measure the effectiveness of advertising on digital audio.
For this report, Adobe surveyed 1,000 US adult consumers and 500 US marketers. It also compiled ComScore data of 190m unique monthly visitor to US mobile apps between December 2017 and December 2018. Adobe analytics tracked 72b mobile app interactions in the US in 2018.