Digital Ad Burnout? You Betcha

digital-burnoutDigital media is worried that readers are burning out on ads. Ya think?

Mass media in catching on to what a lot of us in the industry have known for a long time now: The average consumer is pretty much burnt out on digital advertising.

“During Facebook’s second-quarter earnings call in late July, Chief Financial Officer Dave Wehner said that the social media network’s ad load — or the number of ads on a website or platform — was going to be a ‘less significant factor in driving overall growth, especially after mid-2017,’” reports Michelle Castillo in CNBC Media.

“In layman’s terms: Facebook won’t be increasing the number of ads it shows at the same pace as before,” Castillo notes.

Facebook should know. One thing they are incredibly good at is understanding consumer behavior thanks to the massive amount of user data they collect. When they see a trend that will impact FB’s bottom line, they act, definitively.

“Wehner’s comments highlight a growing concern among both publishers and marketers alike that some sites are so crammed with ads that they risk turning off users, causing them to leave the service, or use an ad-blocking service,” continues Castillo.

While marketers continue to pour money into digital advertising, regardless of the massive fraud and waste, the looming ad blocking tsunami continues to build.

“The increased use of ad blockers and demand for more ‘control’ over privacy-related issues signals consumer frustration with the intrusion of advertising in channels that were formerly not commercialized,” noted Forrester analyst Erna Alfred Liousas.

“You have to stop cluttering up,” said Farrell McManus at e-commerce firm MPP Global. “It will improve the user experience and it will improve experience for the advertisers.” Millennials in particular are quick to leave a page due to mobile bloat, he noted.

Does that mean advertising is dead? No, says Steven Perlberg in the Wall Street Journal, adding, “Just bad advertising.”

As the digital burnout grows, many industry execs see the tide turning back to print, and with good reason. Your customers have just about had it up to here with digital advertising. Meanwhile, print magazine ads have been shown to be the best-received of any channel, which helps explain the big ROI on print magazine ads.

Feeling the digital burn? Maybe cool it off with a nice mix of print goodness.