Ad skipping, the ‘ad free internet’ and privacy: a call for research

A recent article in the Economist titled “Welcome to the Ad Free Internet” focuses on how some social media companies are beginning to offer (e.g. Meta in Europe) or experiment with (e.g. TikTok) ad free versions of their feeds (The Economist 2023). Meanwhile, Apple allows customers to opt out of being tracked and other mega-firms may recognize that due to their own massive databases they do not need to be as reliant on cookies or other tracking mechanisms (The Economist 2023) and other social media giants may consider whether their own huge databases provide them with a competitive advantage when strong regulation goes into place (e.g. Europe’s General Data Privacy Regulation).

While the move of some social media outlets toward offering feeds free of ads should be noticed, some skepticism as to the degree to which consumers will pay to be ad-free is warranted. Indeed, it is difficult to foresee a day where these types of formats will carry the day, even among a majority of wealthy consumers—standards of living simply are not such that most people will be willing to pay to get rid of ads in their feeds in exchange for a recurring monthly fee. Indeed, some “ad-free” streaming outlets such as Netflix have begun to experiment with lowering subscription fees for those willing to view ads. It also seems to be the case that many consumers recognize the value of receiving ads better targeted to their interests, albeit within boundaries. That said, the idea that there is some market, even if modest in size, for ad-free services points to the need for more research on privacy concerns of consumers in the digital environment as well as ad skipping behavior.

Without doubt, there are pros and cons of targeted digital advertising on consumer welfare (see Borenstein and Taylor 2023). Traditional data management platforms assembled by compiling merged lists and/or tracking activity or behavior on the internet al.low consumers to receive more relevant ads when used, but also raise privacy concerns. Behavioral targeting can offer identity consistent messaging and behavioral incentives but risks exposing sensitive information and in some instances creating risks for vulnerable populations and even fostering addiction (e.g. gambling, alcoholism). With geographic targeting becoming more common, ad messages can be effectively targeted across time and space, yet there are concerns about lost anonymity and intrusiveness related to the advertiser knowing an individual’s location.

Concurrent with concerns about negative impacts of targeting is a need for a deep understanding of consumer attitudes towards targeted online advertising and privacy issues. While consumer privacy as pertains to marketing and advertising has a long and productive history (e.g. Milne and Culnan 2004; Boerman and Smit 2023), current issues such as attitudes towards demographic/psychographic targeting, behavioral targeting and geographic targeting is needed (see Borenstein and Taylor 2023 for a detailed agenda). Issues such as what types of data consumers see to be public vs. private in the online environment and whether this varies by product and service type need to be investigated. In addition, more focus on vulnerability and specifically, situational vulnerability to targeting is needed. As noted by Hill and Sharma (2020) note, broad groups sometimes characterized as vulnerable (e.g. minorities, older consumers) may not be generally vulnerable though all or part of a group may be in certain targeting contexts.

More research on ad skipping is also clearly needed. While there have been numerous strong studies of ad skipping in traditional media (e.g. Wilbur 2016) and pre-roll viewing vs. skipping of ads, (Belanche, Flavián, and Pérez-Rueda 2017; Campbell et al. 2017; Ge et al. 2021; Frade, Oliveira, and Giraldi 2023; Kim et al. 2023), more knowledge of general attitudes toward ad avoidance in the digital context is needed. One study that provided considerable insight is Van der Goot et al. (2018), but given recent developments, more study of consumer perceptions is needed. In essence, research on consumer view of trade-offs between benefits and costs of targeted advertising that teases out what consumers value (and how much they value it) along with their perceptions of costs and boundaries is needed. In addition, a focus on how these attitudes ultimately impact receptivity or avoidance of ads is needed.

Charles R. Taylor
Villanova University
[email protected]

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).