Survey: 80% of Consumers Prefer Free Services, Apps And Digital Content, Willing to Share Data for Ad-Based Access

According to a survey by IAB with 1,500 consumers, it was revealed that many consumers are completely okay with using social media services with ads by exchanging their personal data with the sites. Consumers know that if they want to access the ad- based websites or apps for free, they need to exchange their personal data one way or another. The survey also shed light on advertisements, consumers’ stance on ad-free content and their preferences about sharing data to get free access to different sites.

80% of consumers in the survey said that they believe that social media and the internet should be free to all people. This is because people share their thoughts and views about different things on social media and paid social sites will stop them from freely sharing their opinions. Another reason is that not everyone can afford paid services on social media and it would be hard for them to pay for different websites and apps. Three in four consumers know that if they share their data with different websites, it helps them to personalize ads and 70% said that they have no problem with sharing their data with the websites as long as the website or app is free.

Internet, website, and app usage highly valued by consumers. IAB study reveals they'd seek $37,619 annually without free access. IAB survey shows how much the digital marketing sector has to compensate per year to users for not using the internet, social websites and apps. Gen-Z wants the highest compensation amount with $54,169 per year, followed by millennials with $40,343 compensation amount. Gen-X and Boomers demanded the least compensation amount with $36,932 and $29,407 respectively. If a user wants to use a website or app after paying for it, he will have to pay $164 on average.

Fourth-fifth of the consumers in the survey do believe that a free website means that they will have to see advertisements but Gen-Z don’t believe so. Gen-Z believes that websites are free for other reasons like basic rights or free speech. Overall, the study finds that consumers are more inclined to watch or see ads, than pay to browse ad-free.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World