MUMBAI: Three-quarters (75%) of Indian consumers prefer to receive personalised ads and the majority (59%) regard online ads as more interesting and useful than those on traditional channels, such as TV and radio, a new survey has revealed.

What's more, almost two-thirds (63%) of Indian consumers are comfortable with brands they use regularly making use of their personal data to customise web content, emails and advertising.

That is according to a survey of 1,000 Indian adults conducted in early February by technology firm Adobe Digital Insights for its India Advertising Report 2017.

The survey also covered the same number of consumers in Australia and South Korea, as well as 300 marketers across all three countries, and found Indian consumers show stronger preferences for personalisation than their counterparts.

It also found that Indian consumers are much more likely than those in any other country surveyed to say that digital marketers usually respect their privacy while serving personalised ads.

For example, on top of the 63% who are happy for brands to use their personal data, almost three-quarters (73%) think they do a good job by showing ads for products and services of interest to them.

With Indian consumers giving advertisers high marks for delivering relevant ads, the survey revealed that Indians are most likely to see relevant ads when they browse or spend time on social media rather than in a mobile app or while watching video.

Yet there is still more work for marketers to do because, of all the countries surveyed, India shows the greatest disconnect between consumers in terms of whether ads have improved over the last two years.

While about half (48%) of Indian consumers think ads have improved by delivering compelling ads in the last two years, the proportion rises to 63% of marketers.

Elsewhere, the report confirmed that Indian millennials, in particular, are keen on personalisation with 80% preferring customised ads.

"Personalised experiences are key to winning customer confidence, and brands in India are strongly positioned to ride on this trend by leveraging the digital wave sweeping across the country," observed Mickey Mericle, VP of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe, in comments to Campaign India.

"The ADI data clearly establishes that India's vast millennial population is the most positive on the relevance of advertising they see today, and perhaps more appreciative of marketers' efforts to drive relevance, as they started online in time when efforts were rudimentary and less effective," she added.

Data sourced from Adobe Digital Insights, Campaign India, Best Media Info; additional content by WARC staff