INTERNET USERS PAYING ATTENTION TO ADS
By Adnews Staff
Canadian Internet surfers do not avoid advertising on the Internet, according to a study done by ACNielsen of Markham, Ont. Over the past year, advertisers have been concerned that Internet users may have their browsers set so that graphic images are not loaded, which would adversely affect the display of the ad banners. About 12% of Internet users turn off their graphics sometimes, but the remaining 88% always have their graphics on when cruising the Internet. Of the 12% of the users that turned off their graphics, less than 3% of them have their graphics turned off more than 90% of the time. Another 4% have their graphics turned off less than 10% of the time and the other 5% of Net users are somewhere between these two extremes. There has also been concern that surfers are increasingly refusing to accept cookies, a technique used by some Web sites to identify repeat visitors. This fear appears to be unfounded. According to the survey, only 4% of Internet users said they refuse cookies, while 13% have their browser set to warn them if cookies are being offered. Two-thirds of Internet users haven't even heard of the Internet term cookies. Fifty-one per cent of Internet users have clicked on an ad banner sometime. This is a slight increase from last year's level of 47%. The survey also shows that 4% of Internet users have e-mail access only and these tended to be people who have access to the Internet from work. The survey was completed by 12,000 respondents in September.