The Internet medium has witnessed rapid user adoption of ad-based services. This has in turn highlighted the issue of disturbance due to advertising format intrusion as well as the risk of data abuse (i.e., consumer privacy issues).
In 2010, IAB Europe asked McKinsey & Company to deliver an independent assessment of the consumer surplus of digital services financed by online advertising. This report provides the main findings of that assessment. The assessment was based on a review of secondary research and on original conjoint-based market research estimates of users’ benefits from 16 ad-funded Web services. This research was designed and conducted in the course of Spring 2010 in six major countries: France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Russia, and Italy.
The White Paper covers the following themes:
1. The larger-than-expected, and growing, consumer surplus of ad-funded Internet services
2. Free ad-funded services generate the bulk of consumer surplus
3. Advertising and privacy issues carry relatively little weight as compared to the value of free, ad-based, online services
