“Ad Avoiders” Make Up One Third Of Population

Worrying research for the advertising industry has been released by Lowe Howard-Spink, which claims that approximately one third of the population actively avoid half the advertising on television and another third see only 79% of the ads transmitted in and around the programmes they watch.

More worrying still is the fact that the number of people who enjoy television advertising has decreased by 28% in the past five years; this trend is even more marked in multi-channel satellite or cable homes where consumers are twice as likely to be ad avoiders as viewers of terrestrial TV only.

The profile of these ad avoiders matches almost exactly the television audience as a whole. They are not, for example, light television viewers although they do tend to be among the most prosperous members of their various social groups; ad avoiders (defined by purchasing habits against non- avoiders, are:

• 29% more likely to own a new car
• 18% more likely to have holidays abroad
• 25% more likely to own a personal compuer.
• 46% more likely to have private medical insurance
• 38% more likely to own shares or unit trusts

Lowe Howard-Spink’s media research director, Ivor Hussein, commented, “The fact that so many important consumers are actively avoiding ads is of critical importance….advertisers clearly need to act to reverse this trend. An increasing number of viewers are deterred by too much advertising, and too much boring, hard sell advertising.”

Lowe Howard-Spink: 0171 584 5033