Americans have high expectations for ads, but don’t always remember them a day later, report says

What was the last ad you saw? You might remember if you’re a marketer, but if not, it’s unlikely; most people only remember up to a tenth of the ads they’ve seen in the past 24 hours.

That’s one of the findings from market research firm Provoke Insights’s advertising trends report from this summer, a study it’s conducted several times since starting in 2020, according to its president, Carly Fink.

Thank u, next: More specifically, 41% of respondents to the survey, conducted earlier this year among 1,500 Americans ages 21–65, said they remembered 1%–10% of the ads they’d seen in the past 24 hours.

• Another 20% said they remembered 11%–25% of ads they’d seen in that window, and 16% said they remembered 26%–50% of ads.
• Others (18%) said they didn’t remember any ads they’d seen in the past day.
• A much smaller share—just 6%—said they remembered 51%–100% of the ads they saw over the last 24 hours.

“There’s so much content everywhere,” Fink told Marketing Brew. “It’s really hard to remember everything that’s out there, so as a brand…it’s much harder to stand out.”

Social and TV have relatively better ad recall than some other channels:

• Three-quarters of those who watch TV weekly said they remembered at least half of the ads, and 77% of those who use social media weekly said the same.
• For radio, that share is 48%.
• For online news, it’s 39%.
• For newspapers, it’s 26%.

Great expectations: More than half (57%) of Americans said they expect ads to be entertaining, according to the report, and expectations are higher for some industries than others. Those shopping for outdoor gear, furniture, airline tickets, and fitness products overindex compared to buyers in other categories in terms of their expectations for entertaining ads.

Helping hand: Despite the low ad recall, some respondents did agree that ads can be helpful, and they sometimes come to mind while shopping.

• According to the report, 44% said ads help them choose which products to buy, and 42% said they remember ads while shopping.
• Almost one-third (29%) said they rely on influencers for help choosing products.

“I actually think that’s quite a high percentage,” Fink said. “If 29% of the consumer population says social influencers are helping them out, that really shows that area is working.”