Internet users prefer advertising over paying

Internet users may well complain about the amount of advertising on their favourite sites, but they would sooner take that than actually have to pay for the pleasure.

That’s according to Mike Vorhaus, who wrote on Advertising Age about some research he conducted into the subject.

He surveyed consumers to find out whether they would pay $39.99 a year - about £2.25 a month - for an advertising-free experience on one of their favourite websites.

A resounding 84 per cent said they would be ‘unlikely’ or ‘not at all likely’ to.

Lowering the price to $29.99 a year failed to make a difference to the findings.

Mr Vorhaus concluded: “What does this tell me? Consumers might ‘hate ads,’ but not enough to pay even as little as a few cents a day to avoid them.”

ITV released a study this month which found that advertising during video clips may not adversely affect the viewer experience.

It discovered that just nine per cent of people felt that ‘overlay’ adverts - which appear along the bottom, top or side of the video as it plays - detracted from the video’s quality.