Americans More Connected Online, Quite Ad-Tolerant

Marketing VOX - January 2, 2008 –

In just eight months, the use of online and mobile devices for entertainment rocketed among online US consumers, according to the second edition of the State of Media Democracy survey from Deloitte & Touche, reports Reuters (via MarketingCharts).

38 percent of consumers now watch TV shows online, compared with 23 percent eight months ago, the study finds. And some 54 percent use social-networking sites, chat rooms or message boards. 45 percent said they have a profile on a social-networking site.

The report of the online survey of 2,081 US consumers, conducted Oct. 25-31, is slated for release in Jan. '08. Deloitte provided the findings early to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported some of the results: Among the study's findings related to advertising…

• 85 percent cited TV advertising as among the types having the most impact on purchase behavior; 65 percent cited online ads; and 63 percent pointed to magazine ads.

• However, 59 percent said they pay greater attention to magazine ads - and 55 percent cited newspaper ads - than any type of internet advertising.

• Online, search ads were cited as the most effective (78 percent), followed by interactive ads (62 percent), banner ads (60 percent), pre-rolls (31 percent) and post-rolls (19 percent).

• 67 percent said they would be willing to be exposed to more online ads in return for free content that's valuable.

• However, 37 percent said they would rather pay for online content than be exposed to advertisements.

• 65 percent said they consider any type of internet ad more intrusive than newspaper and magazine ads.