Financial Times: People find mobile ads ‘intrusive’ and ‘distracting’

Like most publishers, the Financial Times is trying to crack mobile.

The newspaper publisher executed a pair of studies recently that found that while all age demographics are adopting mobile as a news platform, they’re not happy with the quality of mobile ads, rating them below print and desktop.

According to a study it did with 1,300 readers, print still commands long read times, with each person spending an average 32 minutes. Tablet is next with 20 minutes of read time, followed by smartphones at 11 minutes, and laptop/desktop at 16 minutes a day.

Readers graded smartphone ads poorly, with “intrusive” and “distracting” listed as the words to describe them. Half of respondents to a survey the FT conducted with Quantcast said mobile ads are more intrusive than desktop, although 37 percent of them said they’d be more influenced if the mobile ads they saw were more creative. Even more popular were personally relevant ads, with 33 percent said they’d be more likely to buy from a brand that had served them only personally-relevant ads.

Banner ads and in-stream native ads were relatively on a par in readers minds. Just under 40 percent said banner ads were the least intrusive, while 30 percent said the same for native ads.

Smartphones lend themselves to shorter content due to the screen size and the fact people are often on the move: 71 percent of respondents said they use news websites and apps to scan articles and news stories, though half of them also said they like to read long-form editorial on their smartphones.

https://digiday.com/?p=190620

More in Media

Amid ban uncertainty, TikTok’s role in brands’ social presences has decreased

Even if TikTok finds a path forward in the U.S., brands and agencies that were previously focused on the platform have learned that this approach is vulnerable to the whims of platforms and regulators.

Digiday+ Research: Subscriptions and events gain steam among publishers’ most significant sources of revenue

Direct-sold ads continue to be the dominant source of publishers’ revenue as we move out of the first quarter. But other revenue sources are gaining in importance, particularly subscriptions and events.

Media Briefing: Apple News ad monetization still ‘abysmal’ for some

Publishers still can’t make meaningful ad revenue from Apple News despite its push to sell more ad inventory.