Broadcast Ad Avoidance Needs To Be Addressed

Ad avoidance is a real issue for broadcast and one that needs to be addressed, according to industry experts speaking at last night’s MediaTel Group Media Question Time.

Speaking as part of the event’s panel, Research International CEO Mark Cranmer told the assembled delegates that the TV industry needs to move away from an attitude of throwing anything at the audience and expecting it to always be there.

“If the ads are good and there’s the right balance, people will tolerate it,” he said. “I think you’ve got to have a great respect for the audience.”

Guardian Media Group’s Emily Bell agreed that ad avoidance is a problem for broadcast, and reiterated the importance of quality ads, saying, “a good ad is a relevant ad.”

She explained: “How to beat ad avoidance? Make better ads, make them more relevant and put them in places where people want to see them.”

Bell added that in contrast to broadcast, “online is extremely exposed in terms of whether your content is relevant and popular or your ads are relevant and popular.”

She also revealed that it is possible for readers unhappy with the ads on the Guardian website to subscribe – for a small yearly sum – to an ad free version, but said that the take-up of such a service was minimal.

The panel agreed that online is a more accountable media, although Richard Eyre, chairman of GCap Media and the IAB, voiced concerns that people are not as blasé about online ads as many think.

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