Is Ad Fatigue Getting Worse?

A new survey from AD-ID, the universal ad indexing system, reveals that ad fatigue is influencing consumer behavior, with 61% of U.S. adults reporting they are less likely to buy products or use services from companies that show the same advertisements repeatedly.

The survey of over 2,000 U.S. adults also found that almost half (49%) have decided not to purchase a product from a brand when they see the ads too often. Of the respondents, half indicated that encountering the same ads repeatedly makes them annoyed. Among demographics, adults under 55, men, parents with children under 18, and adults living with children were significantly more likely to express frustration with repetitive advertising.

On the positive side, the poll found that 76% prefer ads that align with their interests, and 63% acknowledged making purchases based on ads that introduced them to previously unknown products or services. The findings suggest that, while there is a point where ad repetition becomes counterproductive, strategically tailored ads still have the power to engage and influence consumer decisions.

“That will be the next step — knowing how many times is too many,” Nada Bradbury, CEO of AD-ID, a collaboration between the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), told MediaPost. “What I do know is seeing the same ad two or three times in a row is too many. You can’t keep showing the same ad and expect a positive response. They must be interspersed, and I think we are failing our clients if we can’t control that.”

Beyond television ads, a recent survey of about 500 UK online shoppers conducted by online marketplace vendor Capterra found 91% agreeing they see too many ads on social media. In response, over a third (37%) have blocked specific advertising and 35% have unfollowed a brand in the past 12 months.

Ad fatigue has been a chronic problem, with one oft-cited solution calling for marketers to vary their messages and media. Mark Addicks, the retired chief marketing officer for General Mills, told the Wall Street Journal in 2007, “You can use the same piece of creative work in so many different ways.”

In a column for Adweek, Leslie Licano, co-founder of Beyond Fifteen Communications, suggested shifting to a brand awareness campaign or one focusing on driving clicks to a blog showcasing products rather than a continual hard-sell approach. She said, “Overtly selling is okay sometimes and in certain stages of the customer journey, but if every ad is a hard sell, the target will start to tune you out.”

Other suggestions include regularly monitoring performance to detect signs of ad fatigue as well as personalizing whenever possible. Sabrina Rabini, paid media manager at Betsson Group, told InterGame, “Personalized ads featuring in-game rewards or tailored experiences resonate more with customers and reduce the monotony that is standard practice nowadays in PPC [pay for click] advertising.”

A survey of 450 U.S. adults last year from retention automation platform Optimove found that 79% of respondents unsubscribed from at least one retail brand in the previous three months — and 61% from three or more retail brands — due to too many marketing messages. When asked which channel was most irritating when they were “bombarded by marketing messages,” text messages and email were tied as the most irritating at 39% each.

“Marketers still erroneously believe that more messages will deliver more results,” said Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove. “In fact, less is more. Fewer right messages at the right time will probably deliver equal or better results.”