Like Times Square,
without all the fun

Nearly 30% of online adults will immediately leave a website if they perceive it as cluttered with ads. And over 75% of those that remain on cluttered sites pay less attention to the ads there, reports Burst Media (via MarketingCharts).

The survey of 4,000 web users, undertaken to better understand consumer perceptions relating to ad clutter, found cluttered sites not only annoy the audience, they diminish ad effectiveness and ultimately do a disservice to the publisher, advertiser and visitor, Burst Media said.

Two Ads is Enough

Though respondents accept that advertising will appear on websites, the majority (52.6%), say they have low tolerance for any more than two advertising units per page. Another 27.3% will tolerate only a single ad per page, and slightly over one-quarter (25.3%) will tolerate just two ads per page.

Clutter Hurts Advertiser Reputation

The survey also found that ad clutter has a negative impact on consumers' perceptions of an advertiser's products and services:

• One in two (52.4%) respondents has a less favorable opinion of an advertiser when their advertising appeared on a page they perceived as cluttered.
• One-half (56.4%) of women claim clutter negatively impacts their opinion of an advertiser, versus 48.3% of men.
• Women are more likely than men to abandon a site that appears cluttered. (32.1% vs 27.5% of men).

Tolerance Falls as Age Rises
Ad clutter's negative impact on respondents' opinions increases with age, Burst Media found. Less than half (46.8%) of respondents 18-24 years were impacted negatively by clutter, but nearly two-thirds (63.2%) of respondents age 55+ were unfavorably impacted.

Not to say younger users are more tolerant. A recent Nielsen survey found youth between ages 2 and 17 are the least exposed to online ad clutter; meanwhile, adults aged 65 and up see the most.

"One of the main obstacles to getting consumers' attention online is ad clutter," said Chuck Moran, VP of Marketing for Burst Media. "It is critical for advertisers to ensure their messages are being placed in a high quality content environment to receive the maximum exposure they deserve, and to preserve their brand's reputation."

Burst Media defined "ad clutter" as the overcrowding of a webpage with advertising units to the point of degrading the web users' experience.