• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, April 23, 2025

Why are we not talking about ad avoidance?

The topic came up in a few conversations last week, and it reminded me that we’re turning a blind eye to this existential threat to our industry. It’s like the dinosaurs looking up and seeing comets come crashing down into the ground, thinking, “Nah -- those are just some acorns falling from trees. Nothing to worry about.”

In some research, as many as 64% of adults in the U.S. actively try to avoid ads whenever possible.  I saw other reports stating that between 88%-96% of mobile users opt out of tracking on their phones.  Regardless of which numbers you subscribe to, the fact is, consumers are annoyed by and don’t appreciate advertising.

In the old days, the industry used the argument that advertising supported free access to content, but that’s now a fallacy. How many quality websites allow free access to their content anymore?  Most of the content is behind a paywall, or they provide you limited access before they lock it down. 

As an industry, we need to realize that our approach needs to change if we want to be a sustainable channel in the future.  We cannot grow if we only have access to 30% of the audience we are supposed to be delivering our messages to. 

As more of traffic online shifts to mobile apps, AI-based interfaces on the web, voice-based interfaces and video, we have a unique opportunity to revisit how we deliver advertising.  My hope, balanced from the perspective of both a consumer and a marketer, is that we identify ways to bring messages with higher attention capture, lower frequency, and more impactful integrations. 

For example, a page with an AI agent can have a display ad alongside the content to capture your attention when you are typing or engaging with the AI agent.  Limited space and a thoughtful rotation on that page would be less interruptive, but just intrusive enough to offer the brands a chance to get their message in front of the right audience. 

This could easily replace paid search, or paid search could become a nav-bar addition to that screen.  The more visible and impactful units could charge a premium, and you could even have the AI agent reference the ad as a personalized offer for the users in conversation.

This model creates a much more impactful, conversationally driven unit with visual elements. Brands would drool at the chance to have that sort of authentic approach. 

We need to take our heads out of the sand and start thinking of the ways to evolve the collective ad offering, or risk being bypassed in evolution. 

Consumers don’t hate advertising.  They just hate the way we do advertising today, and that is an opportunity -- even an invitation! -- for change.