In an international study into consumer and industry attitudes toward advertising, Kantar Media found that without consistent metrics across traditional and digital channels, brands risk losing their legitimacy.

In addition, over-targeting threatens to alienate consumers who, in general, have no fundamental problem with advertising.

The study, Dimension, among more than 5,000 adults across five countries found that 59% of UK consumers think advertisers are doing a better job of reaching them now than they did in the past, although this figure is lower than the average of 73% across the five markets surveyed.

But UK consumers feel significantly more positive about advertising on traditional platforms, such as TV and magazines, than they do about online formats, which are predicted to account for more than half of all advertising spend in the coming years.

Of UK respondents, 33% said they actively dislike seeing advertising on online video services and search engines, while 30% disliked being served ads in news and articles online. In contrast, only 13% and 14% of consumers disliked seeing ads in printed newspapers and printed magazines, respectively.

Richard Poustie, CEO, UK & Ireland at Kantar Media, said: “There is growing demand from brands for a robust means of measuring ad effectiveness across mediums and regions and mounting impatience among consumers who have had enough of bad advertising experiences.

“We know that, by and large, people are not inherently opposed to advertising, but of the consumers we surveyed those in more developed advertising markets tended to be the most cynical. What’s missing is a common currency that connects what brands want to achieve with what consumers want to see.”