Does Internet Advertising Alienate Users

Abstract

This paper attempts to explain the dramatic decline in click-through ratings in terms of a change in consumer attitudes to Internet advertising. Although previous researchers found fairly positive attitudes to Internet advertising, our research found more negative attitudes. We used quantitative research to identify attitudes to Internet advertising, and found that for many respondents Internet advertising is annoying, and that many had left websites because of the advertising. The level of annoyance with Internet advertising was significantly related to length of usage, frequency and volume of usage. Our findings relate to evidence that surfers actively avoid looking at advertising banners, with more experienced surfers showing different scanning patterns.