The Rich Love Online Advertising | Beyond Madison Avenue

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

The Rich Love Online Advertising

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

According to a new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, affluent Americans dig their online advertising. The research indicates that those in households of $100,000 or more of annual income are online more, can recall more online ads, and are more accepting of online advertising than the non-affluent consumer.

Talk about a gold mine, literally. Of the affluent market, 98 percent of them use the Internet. They spend close to 27 hours online weekly, compared to 18 hours watching TV and 7.5 hours listening to radio. These rich folks, according to the article, have been so hard to capture with TV and radio that this study has been attracting a lot of attention from the advertising industry.

But how big is this market? In the U.S., the affluent market is composed of 21 percent of all households, and has 70 percent of all consumer wealth. Thankfully, the market puts the wealth into use; they spend 3.2 times the amount of any other American consumer on purchases.

Okay, enough of the background. Let's talk brand recognition and recall. Do they really like online ads?

The answer is yes. The report reveals that this group is more willing to give up personal information than the regular American consumer in order to have a more customized experience. But here's the cool thing: with that preference, they want ads that are relevant to them as part of the customized experience. Over 59 percent of the affluent group said that they took action in the past six months based on a digital ad.

This affluent crowd has seen their lives become intertwined with technology, so though the report isn't groundbreaking, it puts numbers and data behind a simple hunch. If you want to find the affluent market, think online.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on