• Advertising Age, Monday, October 27, 2008 12 PM

Advertisers and consumers have long agreed on one thing: There are just too many ads. The clutter makes it increasingly difficult for consumers to enjoy any kind of media and for advertisers to break through with their messages. But help may be on the way--at least online--in the form of a down economy.

According to new data from ComScore AdMetrix, the clutter on the Internet may be decreasing. Web surfers are now exposed to 12% fewer display ads than they were a year ago, a trend that is likely to continue as the economic turmoil of recent months takes it toll on ad sales. Another force behind the trend: publishers who want to increase the effectiveness of the ads on their pages by having fewer of them.

That's good news for advertisers and consumers, as studies have suggested that click rates decrease as the number of ads on a page increase. Last year, a study conducted with Dynamic Logic, Starcom and DoubleClick found that a 15% increase in ads on a page results in about a 10% decline in click-through rate.

Read the whole story at Advertising Age »