Developing a framework to measure the factors influencing the avoidance of internet advertisements by student audiences

In the digital era, Internet advertising has emerged as a strategic tool that offers striking advantages over traditional media and plays a pivotal role in engaging consumers effectively. In Iran, the exponential growth of Internet users has provided public and private organizations with a valuable opportunity to leverage this accessible, low‑cost, and far‑reaching medium to bolster the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and expand their market share. However, research shows that audience exposure to digital ads is not always met with acceptance. Recent studies indicate that contemporary consumers under the influence of cognitive, behavioral, and mechanistic factors, are increasingly inclined to avoid such advertisements, a phenomenon that not only fails to deliver benefits for advertisers but also leads to wasted financial resources and diminished returns on investment. In this regard, this study was designed to identify and rank the key factors that lead to avoidance of online advertising by student audiences, using quantitative methods. Data were gathered via a questionnaire distributed to 335 students at Farabi College, University of Tehran. Exploratory factor analysis in SPSS was employed to extract the underlying components, and the Shannon entropy method was applied to determine their relative weights. Six determinants were identified, in descending order of influence: skepticism toward Internet advertising, distrust of Internet advertising, time urgency, prior negative experiences, advertising overload, and distrust of the medium. These findings offer strategic insights for digital‑marketing policymakers, enabling them to address the identified challenges and devise measures to reduce audience avoidance and enhance engagement rates.