Almost everywhere you look, you’re bombarded with advertising. TV commercials, radio ads, billboards, digital ads—they’re all vying for your attention. It’s no wonder that we’ve become a nation of ad blockers. In fact, more than 26% of American adults use ad blockers, and that number is growing every year.
But even as we block more ads, we’re still being exposed to them. In fact, we’re seeing more ads than ever before—an average of 5,000 per day, according to one estimate. And that number is only going to increase as companies shift their advertising budgets from traditional media to digital channels.
This deluge of online advertising is having a profound effect on our behavior. We’re becoming less patient and more resistant to marketing messages. We’re using ad blockers to protect ourselves from the barrage of ads, but that’s just a stopgap measure. The real solution is to change the way we think about online advertising.
It’s time to start seeing online advertising as an opportunity, not a nuisance. It’s time to start valuing our attention and demanding better ads in return.
Advertising isn’t going away anytime soon, so we might as well learn to love it—or at least tolerate it a little bit more. Here are three reasons why online advertising is actually good for you:
1) Online ads are more targeted than traditional ads
You know those annoying pop-up ads that seem to follow you around the internet? They’re called retargeted ads, and they work by placing a cookie on your computer that tracks your web browsing history. Then, when you visit a website that partners with the advertiser, you see an ad for the product you were just looking at.
Retargeted ads are annoying, but they’re also incredibly effective—so much so that almost 70% of marketers say they plan to increase their budgets for this type of advertising. That’s because retargeting allows advertisers to show their message to people who are already interested in what they have to offer.
2) Online ads are less intrusive than traditional ads
Have you ever been watching a TV show only to have it interrupted by a commercial break? It’s annoying, right? And it’s even worse when the commercials are for products you have no interest in—like baby formula or erectile dysfunction medication.
Now imagine if those TV commercials were replaced by digital ads that were relevant to your interests—ads for the new Marvel movie if you love superhero movies or an ad for a new video game if you love gaming. That would be far less intrusive and far more welcome than the current system of interruption-based advertising.
