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

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

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.

12 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 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.

    3. 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.

    4. 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. ;)

    5. 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

  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.

  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. 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.