Recent research is showing that overall, female smartphone users are indifferent to advertising.
According to the results of a lengthy study that has been observing the responses that women are having to mobile ads, it has been determined that it is actually quite challenging to be able to consistently connect with female consumers.
The IAB, itself, has now released a statement that has said that this is actually a very difficult goal to achieve.
The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) is usually a strong proponent of virtually every kind of digital and mobile ads in their various technologies and formats, but it has stated that “it’s a challenge to find consistent mobile advertising success stories, when it comes to the women that they recently asked after a study that has been running for over half a year. It partnered with the Real Women Talking Community from the MXM (Meredith Xcelerated Marketing) agency near the end of 2013, in order to be able to better understand the responses that women have to smartphone advertising.
There were approximately 100 women who were asked about the responses that they had to mobile ads.
These women were asked their opinions about various types of advertising and were asked to provide a screenshot of the actual mobile advertisement that they were seeing. What was found was that a number of the smartphone ads were either not functioning properly or they were simply not connecting with the women who saw them.
Many of the women who participated in this research essentially stated that the only thing that they liked about banner ads that were displayed on their mobile devices was that it was easy to either ignore them or to simply get rid of them. One women pointed out one of the true struggles that are associated with the typical type of interruptive ads on smartphones and the way in which they differ from the PC banner experience. She said that “When I’m on my phone, I’m needing to do something quickly and [ads] can get in the way,” meaning that they are not only being ignored, but they’re being actively disliked.
Similarly, another woman pointed out that mobile ads are a technical failure on small device screens because they take up too much space and at the wrong times. She will then blame the advertiser for the inconvenience and builds a negative impression of that brand or product.
