Dive Brief:

• 73% of marketers and agency executives believe that the user experience needs to improve in digital marketing, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Kargo and Refinery29. The study surveyed 283 marketers and media agency executives.
• Ad clutter was cited as the biggest challenge of the digital advertising experience by 54% of those surveyed, followed by creative quality and overall experience, according to Ad Week. 
• The report offered six solutions to the challenges facing digital advertising today: 1) know your audience; 2) integrate the right content in the correct context; 3) transform from a transaction-driven user approach to a relationship-driven one; 4) improve user experience design; 5) take risks to innovate and enable creativity with technology and data; 6) improve upon efforts at industry standardization and collaboration.

Dive Insight:

Ad blocking software is a major challenge for the online ad industry. The latest numbers from PageFair and Priori Data illustrate the gravity of the situation: Over 400 million people worldwide use ad blocking software. The same data shows the technology is moving to mobile, where 1-in-5 users are using ad blockers. A poor user experience, along with the threat of ad fraud and malware, is one of the top reasons that consumers adopt ad blocking technology.

IAB chief Randall Rothenberg gave a presentation on the report on Monday at the Cannes Lions festival. "Brand stories can more effectively reach today's audiences when they are crafted within great user experiences," Rothenberg said of the report, according to Ad Week. "It is imperative that ad creatives, brand marketers, publishers and technologists realize that they must join forces to engage consumers in digital in new ways."

Athough the report makes it clear that marketers understand that the user experience is the main driver of ad block adoption, rhetoric from industry organizations has too often couched the issue in terms that pit online advertisers against the end user. The IAB's Rothenberg himself said in a keynote address at the 2016 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in January that ad blocking was a war against diversity and freedom of expression. But if it's truly a case of advertising vs. the consumer, the ad world may not be on steady ground in the long haul.

"Whether you look at Uber, Airbnb, TiVo (DVR’s), Netflix, or music streaming ... consumer demand always prevails over entrenchment of the establishment," Jerrid Grimm, co-founder of Pressboard, recently told Marketing Dive. "Why would we expect ad blocking to be any different? If this becomes a technological arms race, we’re putting our bet on the consumer winning the war."

While the survey shows that marketers may understand online advertising experiences need to improve, it will be interesting to see if and how that knowledge turns into action. In the meantime, expect consumers frustrated by their digital advertising experiences to continue adopting ad blocking software.