I don’t think this is a big problem.. The people who use ad blockers are both a small fraction of internet users and the most sophisticated ones so I doubt they are a major issue for website profit. I mean sure, Facebook is eventually going to try to squeeze out the last few percent of users if they can do so with an easy countermeasure but if this was really a big concern websites would be pushing to get that info back from the company they use to host ads. Admittedly when I was working on ads for Google (I’m not cut out to be out of academia so I went back to it) I never really got into this part of the system so I can’t comment on how it would work out but I think if this mattered enough companies serving ads would figure out how to report back to the page about ad blockers.
I’m sure some sites resent ad blockers and take some easy countermeasures but at an economic level I’m skeptical this really matters.
What this means for how you should feel about using ad blockers is more tricky but since I kinda like well targeted ads I don’t have much advice on this point.
so I doubt they are a major issue for website profit.
Ads decrease consumption drastically, and (patreon user) Gwen found it to be a massive loss. Important to know if there are other ways of making money or that’s not your (only) goal.
I’ve found targeting ads to be, at best, ‘selling pizza right in front of the pizza store—right after the customers have left with the pizza they bought*’. Arguably some small (rare) theoretical benefits even if doing almost no work (though in a world filled with badly targeted ads, they’ll get mowed down like all the rest) via followup, but it’s not pre-emptive and I have to keep track of what I want (to consume), and when it’s coming out.
Ads aren’t some service where I subscribe (ooh, that Batman-/Christopher Nolan-movie/TV Show was really good, I want to see trailers for it automatically when the the next one comes out). Instead they’re trying to serve old left overs. (Fill in the blank) advertises that show I’ve already finished watching* because it’s popular and on their streaming service which ?? they know I use but don’t know I’ve already seen it ??. Ads for the new phone I have on the very same phone… Either someone has gone mad with greed, or people actually have multiple phones that are the same phone?
*It wasn’t that great. I’m not going back for more of the same, again.
It seems bizarre for me to say ‘ask me what ads I want to see’, but like...wouldn’t that be more effective? I know what I want, I know what I’d buy.* (Everyone tweeting #SnyderCut since forever, everyone following that tag...it doesn’t take rocket science to know what they want. For all I know they paid for it in advance (kickstarter style).)
*The next level thing would be budgeting. That’s too much to ask for. (But might interface better with deals, in some way beyond ‘a pre-order the book and it’s cheaper’ deal.)
I’d say the weaknesses include not knowing about new products, or new categories of products. But honestly? That’s a problem right now that might be fixed this way: If people are ‘wasting time on social media’...a website based around watching cool ads might work.
I have ways of finding new things and they work. Often I don’t need trailers for movies. Ads aren’t good at discovering right now. The myth of ‘you didn’t know you needed it’ remains disappointingly absent.
I didn’t find out about TurboTax from ads—but I got those after I used it.
I absolutely think that the future of online marketing g involves more asking ppl for their prefs. I know I go into my settings on good to active curate what they show me.
Indeed, I think Google is leaving a fucking pile of cash on the table by not adding a “I dislike” button and a little survey on their ads.
I don’t think this is a big problem.. The people who use ad blockers are both a small fraction of internet users and the most sophisticated ones so I doubt they are a major issue for website profit. I mean sure, Facebook is eventually going to try to squeeze out the last few percent of users if they can do so with an easy countermeasure but if this was really a big concern websites would be pushing to get that info back from the company they use to host ads. Admittedly when I was working on ads for Google (I’m not cut out to be out of academia so I went back to it) I never really got into this part of the system so I can’t comment on how it would work out but I think if this mattered enough companies serving ads would figure out how to report back to the page about ad blockers.
I’m sure some sites resent ad blockers and take some easy countermeasures but at an economic level I’m skeptical this really matters.
What this means for how you should feel about using ad blockers is more tricky but since I kinda like well targeted ads I don’t have much advice on this point.
Ads decrease consumption drastically, and (patreon user) Gwen found it to be a massive loss. Important to know if there are other ways of making money or that’s not your (only) goal.
I’ve found targeting ads to be, at best, ‘selling pizza right in front of the pizza store—right after the customers have left with the pizza they bought*’. Arguably some small (rare) theoretical benefits even if doing almost no work (though in a world filled with badly targeted ads, they’ll get mowed down like all the rest) via followup, but it’s not pre-emptive and I have to keep track of what I want (to consume), and when it’s coming out.
Ads aren’t some service where I subscribe (ooh, that Batman-/Christopher Nolan-movie/TV Show was really good, I want to see trailers for it automatically when the the next one comes out). Instead they’re trying to serve old left overs. (Fill in the blank) advertises that show I’ve already finished watching* because it’s popular and on their streaming service which ?? they know I use but don’t know I’ve already seen it ??. Ads for the new phone I have on the very same phone… Either someone has gone mad with greed, or people actually have multiple phones that are the same phone?
*It wasn’t that great. I’m not going back for more of the same, again.
It seems bizarre for me to say ‘ask me what ads I want to see’, but like...wouldn’t that be more effective? I know what I want, I know what I’d buy.* (Everyone tweeting #SnyderCut since forever, everyone following that tag...it doesn’t take rocket science to know what they want. For all I know they paid for it in advance (kickstarter style).)
*The next level thing would be budgeting. That’s too much to ask for. (But might interface better with deals, in some way beyond ‘a pre-order the book and it’s cheaper’ deal.)
I’d say the weaknesses include not knowing about new products, or new categories of products. But honestly? That’s a problem right now that might be fixed this way: If people are ‘wasting time on social media’...a website based around watching cool ads might work.
I have ways of finding new things and they work. Often I don’t need trailers for movies. Ads aren’t good at discovering right now. The myth of ‘you didn’t know you needed it’ remains disappointingly absent.
I didn’t find out about TurboTax from ads—but I got those after I used it.
I absolutely think that the future of online marketing g involves more asking ppl for their prefs. I know I go into my settings on good to active curate what they show me.
Indeed, I think Google is leaving a fucking pile of cash on the table by not adding a “I dislike” button and a little survey on their ads.
> not adding a “I dislike” button and a little survey on their ads
Have you tried clicking the little “ad choices” button in the upper right hand corner?