A vast majority of consumers now actively avoid advertising, underlining a growing crisis for brands struggling to convert attention into sales, according to new research.
As many as 93 percent of consumers skip or block ads, a report by research firm Clutch found, highlighting the scale of ad fatigue across digital platforms. More than half of respondents said they skip ads whenever possible, while 37 percent said they ignore advertising altogether.
The findings suggest that declining performance is not driven by lack of exposure but by creative failure. Only 15 percent of consumers said they pay to avoid ads, indicating that audiences are still reachable — but unwilling to engage with content they find repetitive or uninteresting. By contrast, 78 percent said interactive or entertaining ads are more likely to capture their attention, the report showed.
The trend is reinforced by separate industry studies. Research by The Trade Desk found that two-thirds of consumers in Southeast Asia tune out repetitive ads shown on a single platform, while surveys in the United States show that repeated advertising can actively damage brand perception, reducing purchase intent and trust.
Despite widespread acknowledgment within the industry that creativity drives advertising effectiveness, execution remains uneven. While more than 80 percent of marketers say creative quality is critical to performance, fewer than 60 percent say their teams share a clear definition of what effective creative looks like, contributing to stale campaigns and rising disengagement.
The data points to a widening gap between audience expectations and brand output, as marketers struggle to refresh creative assets and tailor messages to fragmented audiences. Industry executives increasingly argue that breaking through ad fatigue will require greater investment in storytelling, interactive formats and experimentation — rather than increased media spend alone.
