Anytime you online shop, stream a series or open up a mobile game, chances are you are bombarded with advertisements. From banners to pop-ups to mid-rolls, ads have become a guaranteed feature when using the internet. For many companies, ads are necessary to turn a profit, and user data is now more readily available than ever.
The adpocalypse
The prevalence of ads in every corner of the internet experience is a problem that has only become worse over time. Internet advertising revenues reached a record-high of $225 billion between 2022 and 2023, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC. “Advertising is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by channels that offer addressable audiences at scale and personalized messaging in privacy-compliant ways,” said the report. Along with more ads, the forms they take have also evolved. “Gone are the days of simple banner ads; even the sponsored Instagram posts invading my feed have started to feel quaint,” said The Atlantic. “Now nothing is safe from brands trying to sell us stuff.”
Much of this is due to the increased accessibility of user data to create more targeted ads. “A big part of why the internet has become an adpocalypse is that this kind of targeted advertising is no longer reserved for the tech giants,” said The Atlantic. “In recent years, diet apps, fitness apps, period-tracking apps, transportation apps, dating apps, food-delivery apps and basically every other kind of app realized they have valuable personal information.” In agreeing to a website or app’s terms and conditions, many times you are agreeing to share data as well.
There is also a monetary factor in the rise of ads, especially when it comes to streaming services. “Over the last decade, as media companies raced to introduce streaming services to compete with Netflix, they prized subscriber counts above all else,” said The New York Times. Putting ads into streaming services allowed the companies to introduce subscription tiers. In turn, more people sign up for the services opting for the cheapest plan with ads and eventually opting to pay extra to remove them.
Grasping for attention
Online, people’s time and attention are the most valuable commodities. “Many people are always online, glaring into smartphones first thing in the morning and unwinding at night by streaming Netflix,” said The Atlantic. “That has made every little pixel on our screens valuable to advertisers, giving them limitless opportunities to grab our extremely fractured attention.” This has led advertisers to grow increasingly creative. “It’s not enough to drive users to distraction with pop-up elements in the name of grabbing attention,” said The Verge. “Some websites also use them in highly manipulative ways.” Examples include fake playable ads in mobile games that force the user to open the app store or company website and “confirmshaming” which is a tactic that makes the user feel guilty for refusing to click on an ad.
While the myriad of ads is an attempt to harbor the attention of users, over time it may actually be causing a higher lack of attention and even annoyance. “The fact that pop-ups can spark outbursts of rage highlights the reputational damage they can cause over time,” said The Verge. “And the more often people see them, the more they start to glaze over them, a phenomenon seen with those now-ubiquitous cookie notices, which most people scroll around, click to dismiss, accept without reading, or simply block.”