Performance analytics firm SOASTA recently announced the findings of its Third-Party Analytics Study, which was conducted online by Harris Poll in August among over 2,000 U.S. adults to determine how Americans feel about one of the biggest developments on the Internet—third-party features such as advertising, news, videos and tracking software supplied by independent vendors on websites and mobile apps, and to demonstrate the need for new tools to make third-party resources work better.
According to the study, 85 percent of Americans say third-party features are annoying. Three out of four Americans would rather engage in a seemingly unpleasant activity—such as going to the dentist (34 percent) or hanging out with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (17 percent)—if it meant they would no longer have to see third-party advertising and resources on sites or apps they use.
Americans Find Online Ads Annoying
SOASTA revealed that the vast majority of Americans consider third-party resources on websites or apps to be annoying. Americans say they are most annoyed when they see third-party advertising while they are on social networking sites (36 percent), mobile game sites/apps (34 percent), retailer sites/apps (34 percent), news sites/apps (30 percent) and dating sites/apps (26 percent).
More than 2 in 5 Americans (42 percent) say third-party resources cause problems like slow performance and obstructed screens that lead them to leave a website or app.
Americans also indicated:
They are more likely to visit a competitor web or mobile app that has less annoying third-party resources (30 percent)
It’s important for companies to monitor the negative impact third-party resources have on their websites or mobile apps (29 percent)
Third-party resources are the most annoying new development in online commerce (27 percent)
They blame third-party resources for making a website or mobile app work poorly (23 percent)
“Third-party ads are the lifeline for many media and e-commerce businesses that are struggling to stay in the black. A typical web page today can request up to 60 percent of its resources from third-party domains,” said Ann Sung Ruckstuhl, chief marketing officer of SOASTA, in a news release. “But for most Americans, these ads, content and tracking software are the biggest annoyance of the internet. Over 40 percent of users will abandon a website or mobile app after just three seconds of delay. Businesses today must make digital performance management a top priority and use tools to proactively monitor and manage their third-party resources and vendors to work better—and less annoyingly—to prevent their visitors from getting fed up once and for all.”
The Dentist, Kanye and Politicians
Americans hate slow third-party ads and resources so much that 75 percent of them say they would rather endure seemingly unpleasant activities than see them.
Among the seemingly unpleasant activities they would rather endure:
Going to the dentist’s office (34 percent)
Watching a video about Donald Trump (28 percent)
Watching a video about Hillary Clinton (27 percent)
Dressing up as Santa Claus at a children’s party (22 percent)
Hanging out with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (17 percent)
Americans’ annoyance with third-party features could also influence this year’s election season. According to SOASTA’s survey, 77 percent of Americans say website features would negatively impact their likelihood to vote for political candidates when visiting their campaign websites, such as requests for personal information or donations (44% each) or if the website is difficult to navigate (27%).
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This survey was conducted online in the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of SOASTA from August 19-23, 2016, among 2,100 adults. This online survey is not based on a probability sample, and, therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
Source: Business Wire; edited by Richard Carufel