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'The Future of Advertising is Fewer, Better Ads' (recode.net)

For more than a decade, the online advertising world has been dominated by "display ads," served up to consumers alongside web content, search results or social media posts. But they're not the only game in town, one digital ad exec says. From a report: "I think the advertising world going forward is going to be filled with fewer, better ads," Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer said on the latest episode of Recode Media. "The display advertising market is going to crater. By giving away stuff for free for so long, we've created an ad economy that is bigger than it should be," he added. Schafer says there's a untapped value in "nonstandard" ads, meaning branded content and other forms of advertising on platforms such as Snapchat, Musical.ly, WeHeartIt and Imgur.

27 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. When pigs fly... by moosehooey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, sure. I'll believe it when I see it.

    1. Re:When pigs fly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yep, AdBlock shows this page only had 32 ads blocked!

    2. Re:When pigs fly... by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, most of us already see good ads. And the only good ad is one that takes 0x0 on the screen and no network requests.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    3. Re:When pigs fly... by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think the point is that you do not see it. Between ad blockers and just training yourself to ignore the distractions, ads have little to no meaning now, and advertisers are recognising it. The first reaction (force people to whitelist) is having little to no effect, and so advertising has to change. And if it becomes less obnoxious, people might actually start noticing them again.

    4. Re:When pigs fly... by npslider · · Score: 4, Funny

      Have you ever wished for flying bacon? Of course you have!

      Well folks, your dreams have now become a reality. For the low low price of just $19.95 you too can have your very own flying pigs!

      Yes, you heard right! Not just one pig, not two, but a whole flock of flying pigs! And if you act now, we will throw in a free dozen eggs. Finally the means to have a quick, and delicious breakfast, brunch, or dinner!

      *Wings sold separate, many restrictions apply, not available in any state that does eat meat, considered harmful while flying in the state of California, and subject to the laws of most third word countries.

    5. Re:When pigs fly... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      Great. Now I'm hungry and you sure as hell don't deliver to Europe. Typical. Great promises and then "only valid in US and Canada", right?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:When pigs fly... by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Often, ignoring is the best case for them. There are several companies that I won't do business with because their ads make me barf.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    7. Re:When pigs fly... by npslider · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not valid in Canada. These are Great American Pigs, made and sold in the USA.

      Make Bacon great again!

      If you want your own bacon, you need to stop expecting America to do it for you, and tell your free-loading government to pick up the cost!

      Yes, I kid... I had coffee and am feeling like a smart aleck today. ;)

    8. Re:When pigs fly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The point is that zero ads is the best number of ads! I block ads in my browser. There are just too many, and they are too annoying (and headache inducing!) to not block them. Sites that request to be white-listed in my ad blocker, or that won't let me see content without white-listing or disabling my ad blocker, never get visited again, if I even bother to remember them! I just go elsewhere.

      I didn't always block ads online. I have been using computers since the DOS 3.3 days, since before the Internet was available to the average person and we had Bulletin Board Systems. Since the only way to access the internet was dial-up. I only started blocking ads when they became really annoying. Flashing red and yellow ads, pop-ups that covered content, auto-playing video ads etc... And when there started being more ads than content on far too many web pages!

      And I "cut the cord" years ago, dropping ad-infested cable TV for streaming services that not only cost literally 1/10th of what cable TV costs today, but have no ads. Advertisers have so annoyed many of us that there is no going back! The only ads that would (maybe!) be acceptable to me would be small, static ads that are directly related to the content of the page that they are displayed on, with maybe 1 ad per page, and not splitting one page worth of text into several pages to display more ads.

      If there are new, innovative, worthwhile products out there, I will find out about them eventually. But most of the stuff being pushed the hardest is crap that I will never want and don't need (IoT crap etc...)

    9. Re:When pigs fly... by Opportunist · · Score: 3

      In a comedy this can actually be used to comedic effect. Why not? Why not even have a character complain about it? "Oh c'mon, you sponsored by Subway or what?" "Yeah (munching) Why you asking?"

      If done right, it could even be good for a laugh.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re:When pigs fly... by tepples · · Score: 4, Funny

      the only good ad is one that takes 0x0 on the screen and no network requests.

      Not everybody agrees with this claim. Imagine doing a web search, but when you visit each of the top several results, you

      Subscribers can read the rest of this comment

    11. Re:When pigs fly... by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If they include a store on the site and sell branded items useful to visitors, lots of people will buy them just to support the site. You don't have to try to replicate or distribute the advertising payment model in order to find alternatives.

  2. Re:Seriously? by gnick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Advertising isn't about what you need. It's about what you can be persuaded to buy. "Need" doesn't factor in.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  3. It is clutter not advertising by jonsmirl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My adblock current reports having blocked 1.6M ads -- 1.6 million! No one looks at 1.6M ads, they are just clutter.

    I loaded my RSS feed yesterday. 1,200 ads blocked from a single use of my RSS reader. No one looks at 1,200 ads from a single use of an RSS feed. These ads are just clutter to be ignored and blocked.

    And I truly hate autoroll video ads with sound. Good way to guarantee I will never buy your product.

    1. Re:It is clutter not advertising by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Have you looked at a newspaper? They're also filled with thousands of ads. No single reader will look at all thousand. What the advertisers are counting on are the one in a thousand readers who sees their ad.

      I agree with you and TFA though that this is a terrible and inefficient way to do it. Unfortunately, the better way to do it - fewer but targeted ads tailored to better suit your interests and needs - is vehemently opposed by the pro-privacy crowd. The more accurately they can target the ads to you, the more people oppose it as a bigger invasion of their privacy. There's a solution in here somewhere, we just have to find it. (Maybe prohibit collecting and selling of profile info, but allow a user to generate/reset his/her own profile. Advertisers are then allowed to read that profile and present an appropriate ad.)

    2. Re:It is clutter not advertising by omnichad · · Score: 3

      Every time I've tried without one I get redirected to some crap site.

      Don't use ad-blocker in place of cleaning up the malware on your computer. I've never been redirected.

  4. Here's the problem to solve... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From TFA:

    ...“There is a lot of audience that’s spread out on places that are not [Facebook and Google], especially younger audiences,” he said. “As audiences get younger, it’s becoming increasingly harder to reach them where everybody else is able to get reached.”...

    That's it. That is all the mention of the recipients (aptly a.k.a, "targets") of the advertising. The advertising industry hasn't a clue what the targets of the advertising want with advertising, nor do they seem to care.

    .
    The advertising industry seems to think that so long as advertising is presented, it is welcomed. That is wrong, just wrong, on so many levels.

    Until the advertising industry fixes that major and fundamental problem with their industry, advertising will be unwelcome.

    1. Re:Here's the problem to solve... by ausekilis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The funny part is some of the best places survive on next to no advertising budget. Costco is a prime example of a company that is incredibly popular and doesn't spend money on advertising (well, outside of their coupon mailers to their members).

      How do they do it? They have competitive pricing, great customer service (return policy, friendly staff, etc...), they follow all distribution rules (they self-check all of their meat before it's put out on shelves), and they take care of their employees. Every Costco I've been to has been stupidly busy during rush hour and all-day Saturday.

      Word of mouth and customer good will can go a very long way.

  5. Re:We don't need ads by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The McRib is a classic example of something that is really popular, but limited term item on the menu. It is that way on purpose, because scarcity creates a subconscious desire. I know people who do not eat at McD's at all, except when McRib is out. Then they eat there all the time, not just for McRib. It is really weird when you think about it.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  6. There is two ways ads can survive by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Entertainment and information is what people want. Until now, ads invariably did one thing: Interrupt our access to entertainment and information. And guess what: People don't like that.

    Your key to getting your ads not only seen but actually associated with something good and something people want is to tie your ads into entertainment and information. Don't interrupt it, accompany it. Red Bull has really understood that. Know that Red Bull Air Race? Some crazy people flying around at breakneck speed and giving the onlookers the thrill of their life. And everyone knows that it's Red Bull that makes this thrill possible. That's cool! That's what people want! And they associate that sugar water with daredevil action and having a good time.

    Have you ever seen a Red Bull ad? I haven't in the past 10 years.

    So sponsor entertainment! It needn't be something huge, go and see what YouTubers have tons of followers and ponder how you can become part of their show. Note, this is important: DO NOT get them to endorse your product, YOUR PRODUCT has to become part of their show. It has to be part of the "cool". But, and this is also again important, it must not take over the show. Else that Youtuber is considered a sellout and his followers will leave. Your job is to find out how your product fits into his routine and your product must not break his routine, for that's why people are watching him!

    If you prefer something more "serious", try to sponsor something closer to documentaries. That is a mostly uncharted land and I really wonder why. Because people doing serious documentaries are usually considered credible and trustworthy by their viewers, so why not use them for your product? Again, the product has to match the person, the style and the documentary (it's kinda pointless to have an archaeologist drink a cup of coffee from fine porcelain on a digging site, but he could hold a cup whenever he's talking to the camera and take a sip whenever he's in the picture but not talking while showing some ruins or something). And again, subtlety is key. People love finding stuff out themselves. Let them! Maybe even make it some sort of game.

    That's where you can thrive. And people will actually love you and your product for it instead of considering you an invasive nuisance. Because yes, you can force us to endure your ads. But you cannot make us watch. And you cannot force us to like something that we consider obnoxious and invasive because it interrupts what we're looking for: Entertainment and Information. Become part of that entertainment and information and we'll actually love you. And your product.

    And we buy what we love.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Re:We don't need ads by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's limited in part because McDonalds only offers it when the price of pork has fallen below a certain threshold. They've intentionally built up this mystique around it to further increase profitability when it is available.

    Disney has used a similar technique for different reasons through the years when it comes to releasing their films on home-media formats. They do large "limited" batch runs of their movies and market "for a limited time only!" to try to drive additional sales. In-fact if you look at their history, you'll find that even if a particular title is pressed for only a finite amount of time, they stop production when demand drops, not based on some pre-chosen timetable, and most of their popular titles have been released on every popular consumer format. You'll find VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray, and for some titles you'll even find Betamax, CED, and HD-DVD before those formats went stale. In reality they produce a title until the market won't bear it any longer then they stop, so that those who didn't get on the bandwagon with a particular format and lament that will do so next time around, and everyone else will re-buy what they already have in the new format as well.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  8. Re:Seriously? by freeze128 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Pay close attention to Car commercials on TV... everyday cars like Ford, Chevy, etc., will try to sell you on their specs (value, toughness, awards won), but high end luxury cars (Lexus, BMW) try to sell you on a FEELING. The feeling you get driving it. The feeling you get just sitting in it. It's completely subjective and unable to be measured.

    Know any computer manufacturers that use that technique? (Apple)

  9. Re:Seriously? by npslider · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Apple is no longer a BMW... but rather a 3 year Ford design marketed as "new" with a different color paint job, and a custom multi touch shiftier.

  10. How to have better ads by taustin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Do not serve malware. Ever. No matter what it takes. If you have to have an actual human being (who isn't a moron) personally review every single ad every single time it is served to prevent malware, that is what you have to do. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    2. Do not serve ads that contain so much a) animation or b) scripting that they slow down the browser to the point it is unusable. Or that it crashes. Ever. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    3. Do no serve ads that use more bandwidth than the web page they're embedded in by two or three orders of magnitude. Ever. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    4. Do not serve popup or popunder ads, or ads that load any additional windows of any kind. Ever. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    5. Do no serve ads that float on top of content, and do no rescale when I zoom in my browser because the web designer doesn't believe in using integer values for font sizes. It makes it literally impossible to read the content. Just do not do this. Ever. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    6. Do no serve ads that cover more than 25% of the screen that is visible when the page initially loads. Ever. If you cannot achieve this, close your doors and get a real job.

    7. Stop blaming your victims when you can't make a living because you refuse to do any, much less all, of these things. It is your fault you can't make your boat payment, because you are stupid, dishonest, and lazy. You deserve to live in a cardboard box, and have no choice but to eat your own home for food.

  11. Re:Seriously? by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When they measure the responses, even though people respond differently after seeing the ad those people don't believe it is because of the ad. They will almost always be able to identify better-sounding reasons. That's actually the whole point, and why the advertising is typically so stupid. If it was a logical response they were targeting the ads would look very different.

  12. Re:Once the majority of sites demand whitelisting by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Informative

    In theory, you could use YaCy and adjust the algorithm yourself. Self-hosting my search is still on my "to-do" list (not my "done" list), though.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  13. Re:For the best possible hosts file? by Coren22 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe we just need a mod for spam. Then we can identify the spammers, and they might be filtered out to not be able to post anymore. What do you think about Ads for hosts file engines, and how we go about blocking such ads that are both offtopic and misplaced?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?