Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

Ad filterers: an interactive demographic

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By Otilia Otlacan, Head of Operations, AAX

It’s not just that filterers discover brands at three times the rate of users without ad blockers installed on their devices. The process of curious, eager engagement doesn’t stop with brand discovery for ad filterers: they continue on forging stronger bonds with brands, showing up in a highly interactive fashion. 

Ad filterers, defined by the GlobalWebIndex as “users who have blocked ads in the past month but discover brands or products through ads seen online and have clicked on an online ad in the past month,” engage with brands at rates far higher than non-ad blocking users. 

What fuels engagement?

These users are roughly three times as likely than non-ad blocking users to click on an ad at the side or top of a website page. That initial rush of discovery, as it turns out, is backed by decisive and definite action.

The tendency to click on online ads could have its root cause in some of the defining characteristics of ad filterers, who are an affluent, well-educated demographic that demonstrates high levels of curiosity and a tendency to seek out exciting experiences. 

However, we think it’s also likely that this is a byproduct of the fact that ad filterers enjoy a more curated, and non-intrusive ad experience, often choosing to be served Acceptable Ads. Because of this non-obnoxious ad experience, users are probably more likely to be open and interested in the respectful ads they are served. 

The value of an interactive audience

And once that first click, the engagement continues.  Ad filterers are more than three times as likely to check out a brand’s social network page as non- ad blocking users, and two times as likely to follow a brand’s on social media as non-ad blocking users.

And we know that social media engagement is worth its weight in gold. Now vying with good old-fashioned word of mouth in terms of value, social media paves the way forward for brands and businesses thriving.

Ad filterers are at the heart of this thriving. Because when these users are served ads that are non-intrusive and non-obnoxious, they engage and interact with the brands serving these ads time and again. 

Want to learn more about the demographic of ad filterers? Our most recent study, titled “Ad Filterers Online: Purchasing Habits and Media Consumption In The USA,” is the result of consulting the trove of data that the GlobalWebIndex keeps on internet behavior.

The study is available for free download here. Check it out!

In January of this year we published our groundbreaking study, “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ad Blocking Users,” which drew back the curtain on the youthful, affluent, and well-educated users that have ad blockers installed on their devices.

But it turns out that there was even more to discover about this dynamic demographic.

We’ve once more consulted the trove of data that GlobalWebIndex (GWI) keeps about internet behavior and teased out more insights ad filterers, who GWI defines as “users who have blocked ads in the past month but discover brands or products through ads seen online and have clicked on an online ad in the past month.”

The result? AAX’s second study: Ad Filterers Online: Purchasing Habits and Media Consumption In The USA.

We’ll be publishing the study in full in November, but we wanted to give our followers a preview of the insights to come. That’s why, for the next five weeks, we’re highlighting our findings in a series of posts that consider some of our findings in a new light.

This is part three in a series of articles on ad filtering. Read part one is here and part two here

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