The Guardian tells marketers to stop buying intrusive online ads

The Guardian turns down “millions of pounds every single year” in advertising because of the long-term harm it fears intrusive ad formats cause.

But the title wants to change this by promoting the value of a less-is-more approach to advertising. And it has criticised marketers who buy low-quality ads which “feel as if they’re bought by people who never use the internet” in research that was unveiled to marketers on 2 October.

For the research, The Guardian took 20 people and observed the way they browse the internet. It also carried out a further survey of 1,800 website users.

Looking at website users in “high-ad environments” it found that most: “Showed signs of facial confusion in a high ad environment. That’s jaws dropping, brows furrowing and faces showing fear.”

And its survey found that overall, 73% of readers trust publishers who operate “low-ad environments” versus 56% in “high-ad environments”.

The Guardian’s thesis is that readers feel happier on websites which have less advertising clutter and so feel more positive towards the marketing they see.

“Audiences have the highest amount of trust in digital publishers within the low-ad environment,” said Lara Enoch, head of strategy at The Guardian. “And trust in the publisher has a direct halo effect on trust in the advertiser.”

The research also found it was “easier to distinguish between advertising and content in a lower ad environment”.

“Content really needs to feel like the main event, not just something squeezed in between endless ad slots,” Enoch added. “Secondly… when publishers get this balance right, the whole experience improves for readers and publishers alike. And we feel that this is something all publishers should be striving towards, even if it’s at the expense of those few extra ad slots.”

The “worst offenders” in advertising on publisher websites were found to be pop-ups, “perceived as intrusive, distracting…[and] pushy”, and “stickies” (ads which follow the user even if they scroll away) as “users can’t escape – they provide ongoing distraction”, said Enoch.

“The low-ad environment was head and shoulders above” a high and medium ad environment, Enoch added.

Speaking on the question of publisher sites being an “unusable” experience due to overloading with ads, James Fleetham, director of advertising at The Guardian, said: “Video pop-ups, interstitials in your feed placements that never actually load. There is ad stuffing everywhere… sucking the life out of [sites]. Surely this can’t be having a long-term positive impact on these publications?

“What is driving this madness? Well, it’s profit…at The Guardian we turn down literally millions of pounds every single year by refusing formats that ruin the reader experience.”

Fleetham added this is motivated by doing “what is good for our audience”, which means it is also “good for advertisers”.

“Seriously, stop wasting money on annoying formats that interrupt and frustrate people,” he added. “Save that money and reinvest it in digital display advertising where creativity can actually thrive.”

The Guardian also invited advertisers to get in touch for its offer that gives single brands every available slot on its recently refreshed app.

The Guardian claims its app attracts one million users a day, with 83% in the more affluent ABC1 social range. Users spend an average of seven minutes per session on the app, global chief advertising officer Imogen Fox shared.

“We’ll work with you to create an unmissable and imaginative campaign that works perfectly in our app environment,” she added.

Tesco Finest currently has a 100 % share of voice in The Guardian’s cooking app Feast, and Tesco keeps “renewing” this partnership due to “such compelling sales”, Fox said.

The single-brand advertising deal is in “the spirit of fewer ads are more effective” campaign by The Guardian, also known as FAME.

In the year to the end of March 2025, The Guardian reported advertising revenue up 2% year on year to £68.4m with growth coming from direct sales (rather than programmatic). By contrast, The Guardian made £107m in the same period from reader payments.

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