Commentary

IAB: Consumers Willing To Pay 12 Times What Advertisers Do For Digital

by Joe Mandese , January 30, 2024

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released findings of a remarkable study during its annual conference this morning, showing that consumers would be willing to pay $163.50 per month to continue receiving digital media they currently receive for free, because it is ad-supported.

While that finding was intended to demonstrate the …

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6 comments about "IAB: Consumers Willing To Pay 12 Times What Advertisers Do For Digital".

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Peter Blau from Customer Growth LLC, January 30, 2024 at 2:19 p.m.
Figure too good to be true. Access to actual survey questions please! Tried the link to IAB's site but it's member only. My guess is that this is a wildly misleading claim: consumers willing to pay $163.50 per month to get what Big Media gives them for free. I can assure you that Hearst, Gannett, et al get slim pickings when they try to get subscribers at even $8-$10/mo. Crikes, what % of Americans even HAVE $163.50 extra per month disposable income?
Reply

Peter Blau from Customer Growth LLC, January 30, 2024 at 2:21 p.m.

industry pays many millions to trade associations promotiing stuff like this. But any real study would show that trust in digital media companieis has gone way down.

Peter Blau from Customer Growth LLC, January 30, 2024 at 2:36 p.m.

I'd like IAB to survey consumers on the following issues:

- Have you every gotten a "creepy" ad online based on personal information you believe to be private?

- Do you trust online media companies to police their advertisers to assure they are operate in a legitimate and ethical manner?

- Do you trust online media companies to monitor their content to screen out that's harmful, defamatory and/or promotes violent extremism?

Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., January 30, 2024 at 2:43 p.m.

@Peter Blau: The study does indeed appear to be behind an IAB member wall.

There's not a whole lot more I can share about its methodology, except that the report says this (below) and has breaks for gender, demo and household income:

Methodology and Respondent Profile

As the digital economy becomes more privacy-by-design, IAB surveyed over 1,500 consumers to gain insights into their thoughts, preferences, and concerns regarding their personal data and digital advertising overall.

Peter Blau from Customer Growth LLC, January 30, 2024 at 3:12 p.m.

Secret is always in the questions and the order in which they're place. Sorry I'm very cynical about trade association surveys in general, and in the media industry in particular.

Dan C. from MS Entertainment replied, February 7, 2024 at 12:16 p.m.

@Peter - exactly. And I would add that "digital media" is too vague of a term...what does that mean? Streaming? Social media? News?

Almost all forms of news and entertainment are now digital - so this is much too vague.