Australians willing to accept more ads to keep sites free
Dynamic Logic, the online research business operated by Millward Brown, today announced the results of its AdReaction survey of Australian online habits and attitudes to advertising. One of the more surprising findings was that over 90 percent of Australian social network users notice advertising on social networking sites yet on average, 64 percent of these people do not believe it impacts their experience of the site.
A massive 71 percent of consumers would be willing to accept more advertising rather than pay to use their social networking site. Even 66 percent of Twitter users, which currently does not accept advertising, say they would tolerate advertising to keep the site free.
According to the survey, advertising on Facebook is the most visible with 72 percent of Facebook users noticing advertising on the site. MySpace and Windows Live followed with 55 percent and 53 percent respectively.
The survey also touched on the effectiveness of social network advertising with 26 percent of users reporting they have visited a brand’s website as a result of seeing advertising on their social networking site and 12 percent saying they have looked for a brand in-store.
Interestingly for brands, the research also revealed 17 percent of social network users follow companies and/or brands through social networks with the top four categories followed being online shopping sites, technology companies, food companies and retail stores.
Importantly for marketers and advertisers, 51 percent of brand followers believe a brand is more appealing if it has a social network presence, a view shared by 28 percent of those who do not follow brands on social network sites.
According to Millward Brown’s Director of Digital Solutions, Mark Henning, the AdReaction survey findings provide a strong case for brands to include social media as part of their communications strategy.
“The AdReaction survey confirms that consumers are accepting of advertising and brand presence on social networking sites and many consumers view brands as more appealing as a result. These findings should give brands the confidence to establish a presence and begin testing the effectiveness of social networks,” Mr Henning said.
Additional survey findings:
Membership of social networking sites (percentage of respondents):
- Facebook – 67 percent
- Windows Live – 40 percent
- MySpace – 24 percent
- Twitter – 15 percent
- LinkedIn – 5 percent
Profile of Social Network Users (percentage of respondents):
- Facebook – majority of users aged 18-54; overall 54 percent female, 46 percent male
- Myspace – high percentage of users aged 13-24; overall 52 percent female, 48 percent male
- Twitter – largest category of users aged 18-24; overall 59 percent female, 41 percent male
- Windows Live – Most users aged 18-44; overall 49 percent female, 51 percent male
- LinkedIn – Most users aged 25+, attracts largest percentage of users 45+; overall 38 percent female, 62 percent male
Active participation in online activities (percentage of respondents):
- Emailing 95 percent
- Reading news/current events 78 percent
- Social networking 77 percent
- Banking online 74 percent
- Shopping online 70 percent
- Playing games 56 percent
- Watching online videos (TV, movies, clips) 54 percent
- Downloading music 50 percent
- Listening to streaming radio/music/podcasts 44 percent
- Participating in community chats/blogs 34 percent
The AdReaction survey was undertaken as part of the global Dynamic Logic AdReaction survey through interviews with 400 Australians in late 2009.
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS: Mark Henning, Director of Digital Solutions for Millward Brown, is available for interviews on the AdReaction survey results.
About Dynamic Logic
Dynamic Logic, a Millward Brown company, is a leading research company with expertise in measuring advertising and marketing effectiveness. Founded in 1999, Dynamic Logic pioneered the concept of evaluating the branding impact of Internet advertising and has led the market in establishing standards in digital advertising and marketing campaign evaluation ever since. Today, Dynamic Logic is also a respected thought leader in the cross-media measurement arena.
Worldwide, Dynamic Logic has completed over 4,000 AdIndex® studies, over 260 online creative pre-tests, and more than 200 cross-media studies.
About Millward Brown
Millward Brown (www.millwardbrown.com) is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions — both qualitative and quantitative — Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. The company employs over 90 staff across Sydney and Melbourne, and has more than 78 offices in 51 countries. Additional practices include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments) and Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital marketing effectiveness). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.