April 2006 ISSUE
Electronic Advertising Gets Little Support
Members are split on whether advertising should appear in APEGGA electronic communications, an e-PEGG survey suggests. And many members would favour advertising only if the revenue went towards lowering dues.
Although the Feb. 16 electronic survey results aren’t scientific, they’re a reasonable barometer of member sentiment, said George Lee, Manager, Editorial Services. The results are nowhere near convincing enough for Editorial Services to open up online advertising revenue streams.
“We’re always looking for new ways to offset the cost of our paper and electronic publications,” said Mr. Lee. “This doesn’t appear to be a good one, however.”
Of 206 respondents, 110 or 53 per cent are in favour of advertising appearing on the e-PEGG. The in-favour side drops just below 50 per cent for The PEGG Online, with 102 of 205 positive responses.
As for advertising on other areas of the APEGGA website, support drops even further to only 36 per cent.
“The results were a bit of a surprise to me, actually,” said Mr. Lee. “I thought members would be quite open to advertising appearing in the online version of The PEGG, because advertising with news content is now widespread online. And our hardcopy version contains paid advertising.”
Pop-up and animated ads in particular make members’ blood boil. “We were very clear in our survey that pop-up advertising is not what we’re talking about. Still, members consistently commented that they are against pop-ups.”
The PEGG regularly receives requests to sell electronic advertising space. Many clients — particularly those with an on-line presence — want members to be able to click through to further information on their products and services. Because of that demand, Editorial Services decided to see what members had to say.
Comments received in the survey show that regular web users are tired of commercial clutter. Many think online advertising is unbecoming of the professionalism APEGGA stands for.
“I thought web users were developing an acceptance of online advertising,” said Mr. Lee. “Apparently, just the opposite is happening. They’re sick of it.”