Getting a Little Too Personal? Positive and Negative Effects of Personalized Advertising on Online Mutitaskers.

Abstract: A between-subjects experiment tested the effects of medium (location-based) and high (individually tailored) personalized advertising on online news readers, half of whom also paid attention to a podcast while reading. Results showed that the main effect of multitasking was not significant, suggesting that no significant difference in attitude toward the ad emerged between the multitasking and single-tasking conditions. However, in terms of level of ad personalization, a significant main effect on attitude toward the ad was detected. Participants who were exposed to the more personalized ad showed a less favorable attitude toward the ad than those who were exposed to less personalized ad. Moreover, the negative impact of the personalized ad message on ad evaluation was fully mediated by privacy concern. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.