User adaptation to interactive advertising formats: The effect of previous exposure, habit and time urgency on ad skipping behaviors

Due to commercial information loss of efficacy, social media advertising introduced skippable formats as an interactive function to attract customers. This empowerment of users could also favor the development of their skills and strategies to deal with online advertising, which may result in a lower advertising effectiveness. A study with 286 YouTube users was carried out to investigate this adaptation process to an advertising format by focusing on pre-roll skippable video ads. In contrast to advertisers' approach (e.g. improving the persuasiveness of the ad), our research deepens on the ad skipping phenomenon from a human and context based perspective. In favor of an ad avoidance training effect, the findings show that participants previously exposed to a skippable ad are faster in taking the decision to watch or skip a subsequent ad. Participants' skipping habits and time urgency are also revealed as main determinants of different ad skipping behaviors. This innovative research provides empirical support for the adaptation process leading people's interrelation with interactive advertising formats. Practical and theoretical consequences are discussed for advancing on this underexplored topic.