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VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU International Business Hoang-Mai Nguyen A FAREWELL TO ADS? On the conflict between online advertisements and adblockers Business Economics 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My friend Mathieu once told me, “Beautiful places are everywhere, but it is the people that make a place special. Therefore, whenever I travel somewhere, it is not the place that I want to visit; it is the people that I want to meet.” And so I would like to dedicate this thesis to the great friends, teachers, and strangers that I have met during the last four years. Thank you for showing me what it is like to live, care and matter. I am grateful to my supervisor, Satu Lautamäki, for her endless support and en- couragement. Thank you for never giving up on me. Và dĩ nhiên, con cảm ơn bố. Con cảm ơn mẹ. Cảm ơn bố mẹ vì đã đồng ý cho con ra đi và trưởng thành. Summer 2016, Vaasa. Mai. VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU International Business TIIVISTELMÄ Tekijä: Hoang-Mai Nguyen Opinnäytetyön nimi Hyvästit mainoksille? Ristiriita verkkomainononnan ja mainoksenestoliitännäisten välillä Vuosi 2016 Kieli Englanti Sivumäärä 68 + 8 Liitettä Ohjaaja Satu Lautamäki Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus on analysoida mainoksenestoliitännäisten vaikutusta verkkomainontateollisuuteen. Päämääränä on (1) selvittää mainoksenestoliitännäisiä käyttävien henkilöiden käyttäjäprofiili, (2) luotettujen sivustojen listaukseen erikoistuneiden tahojen motivaatiot ja (3) tutkia ihmisten halukkuutta luotettujen sivustojen listausliitännäisten käyttöön ja maksettuun sisältöön internetissä. Kattava ymmärrys verkkomainonnan nykytilanteesta kartoitettiin tutkimalla useita markkinointianalyyseja liittyen mainoksia karttavien käyttäjien käyttäytymismalleihin. Lisäksi ärsykkeitä – merkittävää syytä vältellä mainoksia – tutkittiin tarkasti. Myös mainoksenestoliitännäisten vaikutusta verkkomainonta teollisuuteen tarkasteltiin. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteisiin päästäkseen sekä määrällistä, että laadullista tutkimusmenetelmää käytettiin. Ensimmäisenä laadittiin ja lähetettiin Internet kyselyn ja lähetti sen verkkomainoksenestoliitännäisten käyttäjille ja käyttäjille, jotka eivät käyttäneet liitännäisiä estääkseen verkkomainontaa. Kyselyjen perusteella tekijä laadittiin haastattelut kahdelle markkinointiyrityksen johtajalle: AdSomeNoise ja C2 Advertising. Viittä verkkomainoksenestoliitännäisiä käyttävää henkilöä haastateltiin lisäksi loppupäätelmän vahvistamiseksi sekä tuodakseen esiin muita aiheeseen liittyviä muuttujia. Opinnäytetyön johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että suurin syy verkkomainoksenestoliitännäisten suosioon löytyy heikoista markkinointitaidoista. Kuitenkin, käyttäjät katsovat mielellään mainoksia, jos vastineeksi lähes koko Internetin sisältö on ilmaista. Vaikka sallittujen sivustojen listaustyökalut ovat hyvä keino saavuttaa asiakkaat takaisin sivustolleen, tehokkain tapa on kehittää mainosten laatua. Avainsanat: verkkomainonta, mainoksenestoliitännäiset, mainosten välttäminnen VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES International Business ABSTRACT Author Hoang-Mai Nguyen Title A farewell to ads? On the conflict between online advertise- ments and adblockers Year 2016 Language English Pages 68 + 8 Appendices Name of Supervisor Satu Lautamäki The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the impact ad-blockers have on the online advertising industry. The thesis aims at (1) finding out the characteristics of adblock users, (2) discovering the motivations behind whitelisting a website, and (3) examining people’s willingness to whitelist and pay for content on the Internet. To gain a deeper understanding of the current situation of online advertising, several studies on ad avoidance behaviours were analysed. In addition, irritation - a major cause of ad avoidance - was closely examined. We also discussed the impact adblockers have on the online publishing industry. In order to reach the thesis’ objectives, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. First, the author created an Internet survey, and sent it to both adblock users and non-users. Based on the responses of the survey, the author then con- ducted interviews with managers of two online advertising agencies: AdSomeNoise and C2 Advertising. Also, in-depth interviews with five adblock users were carried out, in order to confirm the result, as well as to discover other factors related to adblockers. In conclusion, the thesis identified poor advertising practices as the main contribu- tor to the popularity of adblockers. Nevertheless, people are still willing to view ads, as thanks to them, almost all content on the Internet is accessible free of charge. While whitelisting reminders can be a good tool to gain back consumers, the most effective method is to improve the quality of ads. Keywords: Online advertising, Adblockers, Ad avoidance 1 CONTENTS TIIVISTELMÄ ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW OF AD AVOIDANCE AND ADBLOCKERS ...... 9 2.1 Advertisements: a Synonym of Interruption Marketing ........................... 9 Growing Consumer Resistance to Interrupting Advertisements . 10 Ad Avoidance: Consumers’ Shield against Interrupting Advertisement ......................................................................................... 11 The Characteristics of an Ad-Avoider ........................................ 13 2.2 Ad Avoidance on the Internet ................................................................. 14 Factors Influencing Online Ad Avoidance ................................. 15 2.2.1.2 The Impact of Over-Personalization in Online Ad Avoidance ... 18 2.3 The Adblock Movement ......................................................................... 20 How Ad-blocking Tools Block Ads ............................................ 21 The Impact of Adblockers on the Online Publishing Industry ... 22 2.4 Solutions to the adblocking movement ................................................... 23 Whitelisting ................................................................................. 24 Guideline for Better Ads ............................................................. 25 Subscription Mode ...................................................................... 26 2.5 Summary of The Literature Review ....................................................... 27 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 29 3.1 Research Method .................................................................................... 29 3.2 Data Collection ....................................................................................... 30 3.3 Reliability and Validity ........................................................................... 31 4 EMPIRICAL FINDINGS ............................................................................... 33 4.1 Result and Analysis of the Questionnaire ............................................... 33 Demographics ............................................................................. 33 General Attitudes towards Online Advertisements ..................... 37 Features of Adblock Users .......................................................... 39 2 The motivation to whitelist ......................................................... 41 The Willingness To Pay For Content .......................................... 43 4.2 Result and analysis on the interviews ..................................................... 46 Interview Analysis: AdSomeNoise ............................................ 46 Interview analysis: C2 Advertising ............................................. 48 Interviews With Adblock Users .................................................. 50 Discussion ................................................................................... 54 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 61 APPENDICES 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Push-Pull Model of Marketing Communication (Adapted from Schultz 2008). 12 Figure 2. Predictors of Advertising Avoidance (Speck & Elliott 1997). 13 Figure 3. Factors influence online ad avoidance (Cho & Cheon 2004). 15 Figure 4. Antecedents and consequences of ad intrusiveness (Edwards, Li & Lee 2002). 17 Figure 5. Global Ad Blocking Growth (PageFair 2014). 21 Figure 6. How AdBlock Plus blocks ads (Ricardo 2015). 22 Figure 7. Adblock usage among respondents. 34 Figure 8. Age among adblock users and non users. 34 Figure 9. Time spent online among adblock users and non users. 35 Figure 10. Income among adblock users and non users. 36 Figure 11. General attitude towards online ads. 38 Figure 12. Feeling towards the irritation of online ads. 38 Figure 13.Years of using adblockers. 39 Figure 14. Adblocker names. 39 Figure 15. Types of devices with adblockers installed. 40 Figure 16. The spread of adblocking. 40 Figure 17. Reasons for using adblockers. 41 Figure 18. Motivations for whitelisting. 42 Figure 19 Reasons for not whitelisting. 42 Figure 20. Ads as a commodity for free content 43 Figure 21. Using adblockers is similar to stealing. 45 Figure 23. The willingness of paying for content instead of viewing ads. 46 4 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. Survey on ads and adblockers 5 1 INTRODUCTION Before the advent of mass media, the only way to get information about products and services was through direct conversations. However, the inventions of the print- ing press, radio and television changed the way firms communicate with consum- ers. Advertisements are spread through these media
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