(Not) the right time for social media ads? Exploring the impact of social media detox on attention to the ad

Social media takes up a large part of consumers’ daily time. In response, social media detox is on the rise, such that consumers set time constraints or even take complete social media time-outs. Research into the effects of such detox phases on the effectiveness of advertising is critical but lacking. Two qualitative studies identify motivations for social media detox (n = 36) and explore its effects on ad reception (n = 22). Then, two mobile eye-tracking experiments, conducted under realistic viewing conditions, reveal that time-outs decrease attention to social media ads aired after the detox phase, whereas time constraints exert no impact (n = 50; n = 80). Thus, social media platforms should track the time-outs taken by their users, and advertisers should avoid airing ads immediately after social media time-outs to increase ad effectiveness.