There’s no doubt about it: the world of digital display is exploding.

In 2016 alone, US advertisers spent approximately $24 billion on display advertising, and 59% of CMOs surveyed viewed display ads as an effective form of marketing.

Unfortunately, we also live in an age when consumers are increasingly disenchanted with ads, and more than 200 million people worldwide use ad blocking software. Thanks to consumers’ dedication to avoiding advertisements, it’s getting more and more difficult for those “effective” display ads to reach customers.

Luckily, there’s a way around this.

When marketers focus less on the advertising channel and more on the content of the advertisement itself, display ads as a whole can rise to a new level of relevance.

The Content Makes the Ad

In response to the ad blocking phenomenon, HubSpot conducted a survey that evaluates why people block advertisements. Here’s what they found:

• 64% of respondents block ads because they find them intrusive and obnoxious
• 54% of respondents block ads because they find them disruptive
• 39% are concerned about security and privacy infringements resulting from ads
• 36% install adblockers because ads slow load times

While the HubSpot survey provides some insight into why people block ads, it also shines a light on why they click, and the results aren’t good. 34% of respondents say their clicks were a mistake, while 15% believe the ad tricked them into a click.

Only 7% of respondents say they click ads because they’re compelling.

With this in mind, it’s clear that marketers who want to improve the relevance and success of their display ads will do well to take proactive steps toward improving their ad content and making display ads more relevant to their target audiences.

How Ad Content Overcomes Consumer Challenges

While ad-blocking software is everywhere these days, it’s important to remember that consumers don’t hate ads, they just don’t appreciate irrelevant, intrusive or predatory displays.

Because of this, the advertiser’s priority must be to overhaul advertising content in a way that makes it more relevant, useful and friendly to readers. When this is achieved, marketers and advertisers can address and put to rest many of the reasons consumers block advertisements.

As ad-blocking software continues to spread like wildfire and customers develop increasingly bitter feelings about display advertisements, the only chance marketers have to shift the dialogue is to alter their ad content to provide a better user experience across the board.