Opinions on online advertising relevance in the U.S. 2018, by age group

In March 2018, almost sixty percent of Millennials (aged between 20 and 36) said they believed that online ads had become more relevant to them, compared to those from two years earlier. Only ten percent of consumers aged 71 and over believed the same.

Online ad attitudes in the United States

In the second quarter of 2018, almost sixty percent of U.S. internet users aged 56 and over held a negative viewpoint towards ads on websites. In contrast, only about thirty-five percent of users aged 26 to 35 had the same negative opinion. When it came to online video ads in the same quarter, each of the age groups felt more negatively towards them. Just over forty percent of internet users between the ages of 26 and 35 disliked video ads, and the same was true for just over seventy percent of the oldest users.

Internet ad spending worldwide

Display advertising, which includes online video and social media ads, was the largest internet advertising format worldwide in 2018. Over 140 billion U.S. dollars was spent on display ads that year. This format is expected to remain on top, as it is estimated to surpass 200 billion U.S. dollars in advertising spending by 2021.