Chief marketing boss of the world’s biggest advertiser, Proctor & Gamble’s Marc Pritchard, has once again unleashed on the calibre of ads agencies are serving up.

Speaking at the famed innovation convention Dmexco in Cologne yesterday, Pritchard said the biggest problem with a lot of digital advertising – particularly on social media – was that people simply didn’t want to watch them.

Because of that, P&G would be pressing its agencies to come up with the “the next generation of digital ads,” Pritchard said.

He cited evidence that showed the average viewing time of a digital ad was 1.7 seconds and only one in five viewed the ad longer than two seconds.

“Obviously we stopped wasting money on 30-second ads, and we’re designing ads to work in two seconds,” Pritchard told Dmexco.

“Of course, we’re negotiating to pay only for the ads people actually see. But this raises a deeper question. Looking at it through the lens of the consumer, how valuable are these ads? For example, people use social media to share things about their lives with each other. And let’s face it, ads are annoying in that context.

“Bottom line, it is time for marketers and tech companies to solve the problem of annoying ads and make the ad experience better for consumers.

“You can understand more about the behaviour, so deliver the ad in context and when it’s more useful at the right time, when it’s relevant and not annoying,” he said.

Pritchard also used his speech to again highlight fears around ads being shown next to, and funding, objectionable YouTube videos.

“There’s no question ads should never be on ISIS recruiting videos. But how many cat videos should we advertise on? If you’re watching cat videos, do you really want to see a toothpaste ad?” he said.

“We’ve joined forces with YouTube to identify their best channels to advertise on that are 100 per cent safe and far more engaging with better content, including original content,” Pritchard said.