Entertainment for youngsters, relevance for elders

Younger audiences are more interested in things that entertain them in advertising, while older consumers are looking for relevance , research suggests.

According to a survey by Lightspeed Research and the trade body for digital marketing in the UK the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) younger people are looking for special offers, the entertainment factor and exclusive information in advertising, while 45 to 54-year-olds want more relevant and useful ads.

“It is clear younger people are interested in more for entertaining adverts and it is important that marketers adapt their messages to appeal to their target audiences,” commented David Day, Lightspeed Research chief executive in Europe.

The study reveals 29 per cent of 18 to 24-year-old respondents said they had seen and occasionally interacted with an ad from either the social networking website Facebook or branded content on similar sites.

eMarketer estimates marketers spent a total of $2 billion (£1.4 billion) in 2008 on social networks and the company predicts this number will increase by 17 per cent this year.