Consumers Increasingly 'Impatient' and 'Demanding To Be Entertained,' Says Adobe Report

Eight in 10 digital device users said they would stop engaging with content that's too long or hard to view across devices, said an Adobe report Monday. Consumers are increasingly “multiscreening, impatient and demanding to be entertained,” said Adobe. Nearly three-fourths of consumers are open to content recommendations from brands based on experience, and 75 percent said they would exchange at least one piece of data about themselves to prompt better content suggestions, said the report. To be successful, brands need to earn consumers’ trust, use great design and apply smart, predictive connections that add value to the experience, said Brad Rencher, general manager-digital marketing, Adobe. Respondents said they used an average of five different devices and 83 percent said they used multiple devices simultaneously. Globally, consumers use an average of 2.23 devices at the same time, while U.S. consumers reported the highest simultaneous usage at an average 2.42 devices. On their feelings about multiscreening, 81 percent of consumers felt entertained, 80 percent felt connected, 76 percent felt productive while 47 percent said they were distracted when multiscreening. Consumers are skeptical of most content they view online, said Adobe. Half question whether negative comments or reviews have been removed from a product listing, 49 percent question whether an author was given an incentive to write a positive review and 48 percent wonder whether a news article was biased, said Adobe. Most consumers consider a product endorsement by an ordinary person more credible than one by a celebrity, and 63 percent are most likely to trust content from a close friend or relative, it said. The report, commissioned by Adobe and produced by Edelman Berland, is the second installment of a two-part online survey of 12,169 consumers ages 18-plus from six countries: Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., Sept. 12-29. The margin of error is +/- 0.89 percent.