Under the lens of ads: Digital surveillance and pre-roll advertising avoidance dynamics

Programmatic advertising operates within a surveillance framework that monitors consumer behaviour and generates personalised content to deliver more targeted advertisements to audiences. While this framework analyses large-scale data from users and has the potential to enhance the relevance of advertisements, it can also negatively impact the user experience. This study examines the factors influencing avoidance behaviours towards pre-roll video advertisements by analysing the relationships between perceived marketing surveillance, ad clutter, skippable ad irritation, and perceived autonomy. For this purpose, data collected from 547 participants were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The study's findings show that increasing the relevance of advertisements mitigates surveillance-induced negative attitudes and reduces viewers' tendency to avoid skippable ads. The results underscore the importance of granting viewers greater autonomy to improve the user experience and minimise ad avoidance. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity of developing more balanced and ethical advertising strategies that enhance consumers' sense of control and alleviate the intrusive effects of programmatic advertising's surveillance nature.