How many advertising messages is the average consumer exposed to daily?

How many advertising messages is the average consumer really exposed to each day?

There are figures ranging from a few hundred upwards, but the consensus seems to be about 3,000. I’m interested in finding out an accurate statistic because it’s a figure I like to quote when I’m arguing the relevance of word of mouth marketing in a world of advertising saturation.

Counting the advertising overload

One day this summer I’m going to count. I suspect I wouldn’t usually get near 3,000 because I don’t watch much TV or listen to any commercial radio, but in the interests of research I will find out exactly how much commercial TV and radio the average consumer does listen to each day and expose myself to precisely that amount.

I’m not going to go to work as I normally would, but I will make the normal commute across The Valley and back and try and behave in the same way as I would on an average day. The result wont be qualitative of course, but it will be a good indication.

I will also need some rules. They will be as follows:

Visible logos count. The logo on my watch, the logo on my phone, the logo on my fridge, the logo on my knife and fork. They are there to advertise.
Hidden logos (inside the tag on a shirt for example) don’t count. They aren’t there to advertise.
Product placements on TV and radio shows count.
I will use a click-button counting system like those traffic-watching people use, to ensure accuracy.
I will not attempt to go out of my way to remember or write down any ads I saw, unless I would ordinarily do so because I needed to.
Banner ads count.
Spam counts.
I won’t go out of my way to look at ads. On my bookshelf for example, there is a logo for each publisher on the spine. I could look at my bookshelf and be ‘exposed’ to hundreds of logos at once, but that would count because I’m not really taking them in.
The day after I do my count, I will then write a blog post listing all the ads I can actually remember and in what detail.

Any other ideas for rules?

Anyone want to bet how many advertising messages I’ll end up being exposed to? I’m guessing 1,000.

Do you want to advertise online?

e-CBD is a digital agency on the Gold Coast and can take care of all of your business’ digital needs, from creating custom websites to all aspects of internet marketing, including social media.