Twice the number of online users are using spam filters and internet pop-up blockers now than were two years ago according to a new Forrester study. Over half of US users use one or both of these technologies to save themselves from unwanted ads and emails. That number goes up to 81 percent when you just look at broadband users. Online tactics are just one facet of how Americans are choosing to tune out ads. The largest ad-avoidance tool used is the National Do-Not Call Registry that takes people off of telemarketer's lists. Then there's the DVR that allows people to fast-forward or skip entirely unwanted commercials.
Forrester throws the ad industry a rope by encouraging marketers to find ways to enhance and facilitate the user experience rather than disrupt it. They also recommend a switch from the simple counting of ad views to a more action-based measurement system that shows how that ad impacted actual behavior.
