Attitudes towards in-app advertising: a uses and gratifications perspective

This multi-phase study contributes to the uses and gratifications literature by focusing on young adults in the USA and their use of smartphone applications (apps) in the belief that a thorough understanding of the gratifications sought (GS) from smartphone apps will provide guidance to advertisers regarding the relative levels of involvement associated with each type of app. The first stage addressed scale development. Focus groups and surveys were conducted to develop scales for GS by young adults. Surveys were fielded to provide an exploratory factor analysis and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis. The second stage of the research addressed the relationships between GS, gratifications obtained from specific smartphone apps, and attitudes toward advertising on those apps. Results suggest that consumers are most tolerant of in-app advertising when it is encountered in apps used for assistance and informational purposes.