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Who clicks on ads?

Do you click on ads?

  • Never

    Votes: 278 49.4%

  • Not intentionally

    Votes: 264 46.9%

  • lol wut

    Votes: 45 8.0%

  • Erm, noooo....

    Votes: 33 5.9%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 77 13.7%

  • Always! It's a good deal, it says so right there!

    Votes: 6 1.1%

  • Thor: The Dark Deal

    Votes: 37 6.6%
  • Total voters
    563
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,599
Honestly i don't think i have ever, in my entire life, clicked on an advertisement on the internet or an app without it being done by mistake. Like... absolutely NEVER. I use ad and tracking blockers and have done so since i was a very young lad, mostly because i'm a paranoid person who's scared of things being requested/rendered that i'm not aware of. But clearly advertisements make a lot of money...

Do any of you actually click ads? I'm not even here to judge to be honest. I don't think i have ever seen an advertisement that got me interested in a product that i hadn't previously been interested in from personal investigation. I have to imagine that there are significant cultural nuances at play here.
 
Hyun Sai

Hyun Sai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,562
Never. When internet made his debut, they smelled like virus traps, and this bias never left me.
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
I've bought clothes after seeing them on Facebook ads before. One of the companies, The Normal Brand, has become one of my favorites and go-tos.

I've never clicked the ads about hot singles in my area though. Maybe I'm missing out.
 
AmirMoosavi

AmirMoosavi

Member
Dec 10, 2018
2,037
The only time in recent memory I can think this worked for me was around Black Friday last year when I was looking for a laptop. I entered the name of a laptop I'd seen on the Currys website in YouTube to search for reviews, and then saw a laptop with almost the same specs but for £200 cheaper from Overclockers in one of the adverts on the page (not pre-roll). So that time it worked.
 
OaklandKao

OaklandKao

Member
Mar 21, 2022
2,917
I just use adblock on most websites, so I never see ads. However, on the odd chance I do, or say see promoted tweets that interest me (rarely), I just go directly to the store/site in question.
 
AstralSphere

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,270
I've always been fascinated by how much companies pay for ads and marketing, because it has never ever worked on me.

Clearly it must work on the majority or else there wouldn't be so much money in it.

On topic: Never. I'm not clicking on anything that isn't the reason for me being there.

It's only ever been by accident, and even if I am forced to sit through or look at something it just goes into a void in my head and I never remember the company or what the product is.
 
Kaim Argonar

Kaim Argonar

Member
Dec 8, 2017
2,278
A LOT of people do. From all backgrounds and ages.

Although from the data I saw when I had to work with something like this the age group that clicked the less was that of millenials. I don't know why, but in this business there is a huge drop that then spikes up with gen Z.
 
Lys Skygge

Lys Skygge

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,749
Arizona
I've clicked on a couple photography ads on Instagram. But they're usually from a reputable brand advertising a price drop on something I'm interested in.
 
Pankratous

Pankratous

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,305
Never once clicked on an ad. Even traditional advertising has absolutely no effect on me unless it was a product I was already interested in.
 
Zoidberg Jesus

Zoidberg Jesus

Member
Oct 28, 2017
752
Jarrod38 said:
I only click on Ted Cruz fan fiction.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
075.jpg
 
Parthenios

Parthenios

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
13,634
I will occasionally see an ad for a product or service that I find interesting, but will never click the ad. I'll instead go to the company website. If you right-click and copy the URL for an ad, and paste it into a text editor, it's usually like 800 characters of data collection being sent via your click and not just a URL call.
 
PinkSpider

PinkSpider

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,977
Yeah, never got the concept myself, they're just annoying and with the creation of ad blocks I forget they exist. If I want to buy something I generally know what it is already and know the best and cheapest places to buy it.

I do YouGov polls (£50 a year for free) and they regularly ask do you remember seeing an ad from X company in the last two weeks, never.
 
JustinBB7

JustinBB7

Member
Nov 16, 2017
2,359
Only by mistake, always been viruses/scams waiting to happen so like most people here I always blocked them.

In the off chance I do want to click on them (like on insta app for example), I just go to the site directly or google it and don't click on them directly.
 
Gaardus

Gaardus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,602
I assume a lot of the listings on sites like SlickDeals are sponsored, and even the ones that aren't have affiliate links injected.

I also occasionally clicked ads at the top of search results when it was for the same site as the top result, before I started using an ad blocker.
 
SwampBastard

SwampBastard

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
11,107
Never on purpose. There have been a couple ads in my Facebook feed that interested me, but I opened a new tab and Googled the company or product instead of giving Facebook any ad revenue.
 
bushmonkey

bushmonkey

Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,629
John Kowalski said:
Honestly i don't think i have ever, in my entire life, clicked on an advertisement on the internet or an app without it being done by mistake. Like... absolutely NEVER. I use ad and tracking blockers and have done so since i was a very young lad, mostly because i'm a paranoid person who's scared of things being requested/rendered that i'm not aware of. But clearly advertisements make a lot of money...

Do any of you actually click ads? I'm not even here to judge to be honest. I don't think i have ever seen an advertisement that got me interested in a product that i hadn't previously been interested in from personal investigation. I have to imagine that there are significant cultural nuances at play here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They don't expect you to click. The click rate will be something like 0.001% of the viewers. The key is just to show you the brand / movie / game enough time that you're 'brand aware". That's the aim.
 
Ribs

Ribs

Member
Dec 10, 2017
488
I've clicked on ads on Google search results. Mostly because they're at the top and I hate scrolling down.
 
Khasim

Khasim

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,260
I bought some clothes and little gadgets as small gifts for my girlfriend that I wouldn't have discovered if it wasn't for Facebook ads.
I use uBlock whenever I can so I usually just straight up never see them, but sometimes I see ads on my phone and I will click on maybe 1 out of a 1000 out of curiosity.

We are not the target audience for these ads though, it's the people who 15 years ago would end up with 20 toolbars in Internet Explorer and having their homepage set to porn.
 
Last edited:

Johnny956

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,934
bushmonkey said:
They don't expect you to click. The click rate will be something like 0.001% of the viewers. The key is just to show you the brand / movie / game enough time that you're 'brand aware". That's the aim.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Google's search results ads probably are clicked by a large majority of users who don't realize their clicking ads. Banner ads and such like you said are probably more for brand awareness
 
Futureman

Futureman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,419
I've clicked on Instagram ads and I think even bought some New Balance once. Also bought some coffee mugs from an IG ad around Christmas last year.

That's really it... I guess because they have so much data on you they are able to really personalize the ads.
 
HeySeuss

HeySeuss

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,873
Ohio
I click on targeted ads occasionally. Because I know if I search something I'll get ads based on my search so if it isn't something I need immediately I know the ads will give me a decent deal on what I was looking for
 
MrCibb

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
5,349
UK
Yeah I've never clicked an ad. Never felt the need to. And so many ads are shit anyway. I bought a treadmill and so the algorithm thinks that treadmill was actually just the beginning of my new treadmill collection and they keep trying to flog me more of them.
 
GrapeApes

GrapeApes

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,499
I click the ones where it's like "doctors don't want you to know this secret." Can't hide anything from me!
 
Papercuts

Papercuts

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,126
Not once in my life. My body feels like it just rejects them and shuts down. If I'm forced to watch an ad on my phone I'll shut the sound off and put it away to not even see it. Add reddit at the end of every google search to avoid ad results, etc.

Fuck em.
 
Älg

Älg

Banned
May 13, 2018
3,178
I click a lot of ads for fashion in Instagram, but that's also really the only place I see ads. Can't remember the last time I saw an ad anywhere else on the internet.
 
fracas

fracas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,689
As someone who writes these ads, people actually clicking on them is just icing on the cake. The real goal is to put that brand in your mind so it's at the forefront next time you need something from that industry.
 
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