Online ads have always been annoying, but their targeting and frequency are getting more aggressive. Social media sites push too many ads nowadays. You’ll quickly see one while watching videos, scrolling through posts, and visiting profiles. To make matters worse, they’re often random and irrelevant.Ads don’t pop up by coincidence. Here are five reasons why social media sites show you such terrible ads.

1. Big Brands Are Pulling Back on Social Networks

Forbes reports an overall decline in digital ad spending. Big brands, retailers, and global organizations have been running fewer ads on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Instead, they have been focusing on platforms with short-form content.

Apple’s app tracking transparency feature also made social media marketing more challenging. Marketers lost data crucial for ad targeting. And big brands would rather explore other marketing mediums than waste their ad spend on A/B testing.

2. Many Ads Come From SMBs and Influencers

With big brands slowly pulling back on digital ads, individual marketers are gaining more visibility. Expect an influx of posts from SMBs and influencers. You’ll notice a broader range of ads, from shops selling handmade jewelry to influencers promoting their vlogs.

The problem with small business ads is their inconsistency. Entrepreneurs typically manage campaigns themselves, even if they’ve never studied proper marketing techniques. As a result, they end up publishing subpar content. Inexperienced marketers tend to target the wrong audience, overuse assets, and upload low-quality media.

3. AI Lowered the Barriers to Entry for Marketers

Recent AI advancements lowered the barriers to entry for marketing. Almost anyone can run campaigns. Advertisers would invest in generative AI tools instead of hiring an entire production team. Midjourney creates images, Soundraw synthesizes music, and ChatGPT writes scripts.

Take this fake pizza ad as an example. It has flaws, but it consists of AI content made using free tools.

Although innovative, the accessibility of language models increases online spam. AI pieces flood social networks. Inexperienced marketers merely copy their assets from generative AI tools, resulting in low-effort, generic campaigns.

The good news is that ad platforms are cracking down on AI content. Since copyright rules don’t apply to AI-generated assets, no one can use them for commercial purposes or claim ownership of them.

4. There Are More Ad Spots Available

Publishing digital ads has never been easier. You can buy 1,000+ ad impressions on Facebook for just $10 to $15, and Meta says your weekly budget could go as low as $5. Alternatively, small modular print ads cost more. Major newspapers charge large amounts for full-page advertisements, which could cover several months of digital ads.

Unfortunately, social networks have experienced declining revenue and so they need to increase income. According to the New York Times, in 2022 Meta experienced its first revenue decline since going public.

Companies need more ad spaces to compensate for their low fees. You’ll encounter at least one ad for every five posts on mainstream sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And on YouTube, even 30-second videos can contain at least two ads.

5. Social Media Platforms Have Loosened Their Restrictions

Again, social networks are losing money. Twitter more than halved its staff after Elon Musk took over, and Meta laid off thousands of workers in 2023. They can’t afford to ignore the unstable digital ad market.

Since social media sites are desperate to make money, they may have loosened their restrictions. Fewer ads get rejected on mainstream sites. In fact, Meta allows marketers to promote online gambling platforms as long as they request permission. Hence, even weird, no-name apps quickly publish multiple sets of ads simultaneously, which would’ve been impossible years ago.

Even Elon Musk expressed his dismay at YouTube allowing obvious scams to publish ads. Though at the same time, some users are complaining about the ads on Twitter.

Will Social Media Sites Stop Pushing Terrible Ads?

Several factors affect the digital advertising market. Unfortunately, you’ll keep seeing terrible ads unless social networks weed out AI content and encourage big brands to run campaigns.

If you feel uncomfortable seeing these ads, switch to alternative social media sites. Start exploring ad-free platforms. Although less popular than Facebook and Instagram, they won’t subject you to intrusive ads and algorithms.