Over two thirds (70%) of urban Romanians believe that there are too many ads in the online environment, according to a study by iSense Solutions. Moreover, 75% think that the online ads are repetitive, and almost 60% see them as being boring.

The study was carried out online on more than 1,000 urban Romanians aged between 16 and 65. The data was collected in February 2017.

According to the study, the Romanian consumers also take action against brands when their online promotion becomes too aggressive. Thus, 67% say that they start avoiding them, 24% stop buying that product/service, and 20% give the brand in question as a bad example. Moreover, the number of Romanians who have installed AdBlock programs has increased to 32%, from 19% in 2016.

On the other hand, the Romanians would pay much more attention to the content a brand publishes in the online environment if that content were useful for them (75%), if it surprised them (48%), or if it were funny (34%).

The study also reveals the situations in which a Romanian consumer unfollows a brand on Facebook. For example, 55% of respondents say that they would stop following a brand if the content it promotes were not useful for them, 31% would take this action if the brand got boring, and 29% would push the unfollow button if the promotion got too excessive. However, most of the Romanians (70%) would be interested in learning more about a specific brand if the information about it were shared by an expert/specialist in the field.

The study also reveals that the interaction between the companies and their public is very important in the online environment. For example, 28% of urban Romanians are annoyed when a brand doesn’t respond to comments or questions. Moreover, 28% of respondents would like the brand to respond in real time, 20% would want it to give an answer in a few minutes, 16% - after a few hours, and 31% - on the same day.

Among the most popular brands online, following spontaneous responses from Romanian consumers, there are eMag, Coca Cola, Samsung, Vodafone, Fashion Days, Orange, Facebook, H&M, Telekom, and Elefant.ro. Other brands in the top are Catena, Lidl, Dacia, KFC, Nivea, ING, Altex, Kaufland, McDonald’s, and Cora.

Over 6.4 million Romanians use the Internet daily, statistics show

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com