Many Ad Click-Throughs Just Kids Who Don't Know Better
from the ouch dept
The latest research from the always popular with the press Nielsen Norman Group suggests that a "significant" amount of online advertising click throughs may be coming from children who can't distinguish the ads from regular content, and are attracted to the flashing/blinking excitement of an ad. They suggest that parents teach their kids how to avoid ads. While I have nothing against parents teaching their kids to distinguish advertising from real content (though, these days, it's often becoming tougher to tell...), I do wonder how "significant" these findings really are. How often are these kids clicking through on these ads, and what are they doing once they click through? From the article, it makes it sound as if these kids are just randomly clicking away on anything they see online, paying no attention to anything except what's flashing most brightly at them.
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The only time I click on these ads, is by mistake, usually because the ads have been positioned to encourage such mistakes. I always close them before they fully load.
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Teach kids to discern
Sorry for the rant.
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