Social media advertising gains popularity but still considered disruptive, says Mintel

A survey carried out by market research firm Mintel found that 43% of social media users had engaged with product ads on platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram in the last three months.

Auto-play video adverts had the highest level of engagement, with 22% of participants saying they had watched a social advert recently. This format is able to integrate into social media platforms without requiring users to click a link or open another tab.

However, ads on social media were still considered to be disruptive for users, with 58% of respondents saying they found social media advertising distracted them from what they wanted to look at online.

Smartphone users were particularly aware of this, with 46% saying they would be less likely to click on social ads when using a mobile device. This could be due to the fact that the social ads on smartphone devices will often send users to another website or application, thereby disrupting their experience.

Mintel’s senior leisure and technology analyst Paul Davies said: “With 28% of users saying they would like social ads to feature a button that emailed them more information about a product featured in an ad, this could be one way for advertisers to limit disruption for users and increase follow up engagement.”