Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#1

Post by cpeterso » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 3:38 AM UTC

Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking
theawl.com

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#2

Post by mojuba » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 4:53 AM UTC

As a possibility, a model whereby advertisers pay both content providers and readers for viewing ads.

I can imagine a system where before viewing expensive content (your next ultradeep NYT analysis I really want to read) I'm given a choice to view an ad (video, audio or picture) on one of the topics I'm interested in and be paid say $0.001. There are ad processors, let's say 2 or 3 major ones A, B and C, with whom I have an account. NYT hires one or two of them to give readers reasonable choices of what kind of ads to view and pay both ways. I'm registered with A and C with interests in cars, musical instruments and hiking equipment (in fact they may be priced differently), NYT supports A and B, which is fine, I'll be paid by A this time. I may of course change my preferences over time.

This will make ads even more expensive for the advertisers, but will at the same time improve relevance. In fact advertisers may compete for keywords/interests just like they do with Google Ads.

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#3

Post by mintplant » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:00 AM UTC

I don't want ad companies tracking me.

Ad companies have roundly demonstrated that I can no longer trust them to show me ads without tracking.

Sorry, but I'm not switching off that blocker. Maybe if the history of the internet had taken a different course. But now it's too late -- the well's been poisoned, and advertisers and publishers have only themselves to blame. Pointing the finger at the users doesn't do anything to repair this lost trust.

    Ad-blocking, insofar as it contributes to the decimation of
    advertising revenues, will hasten this exodus to the
    platforms. And there is no way to block the ads shown to you
    by Facebook or Google or Twitter in their own apps,
    especially not on mobile.

Aside: There absolutely are ways to block ads within apps. There are already Android apps that accomplish this to various extents, and I'm sure they'll only get more sophisticated to match any migration of users to mobile.

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#4

Post by Animats » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:05 AM UTC

Maybe the ad-heavy Internet was just a phase. Business models come and go. Craigslist killed newspaper classifieds as a business. Ad blockers may kill web ads as a business.

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#5

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:07 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#6

Post by rhizome » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:22 AM UTC

mintplant wrote: post #3

I don't want ad companies tracking me. Ad companies have roundly demonstrated that I can no longer trust them to show me ads without tracking. Sorry, but I'm not switching off that blocker. Maybe if the history of the internet had taken a different course. But now it's too late -- the well's been poisoned, and advertisers and publishers have only themselves to blame. Pointing the finger at the users doesn't do anythi…

One thing Doc Searls points out is how direct marketing stole online advertising from Madison Ave.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2015/09/08/if-marketing-lis...

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#7

Post by venomsnake » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:24 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #4

Maybe the ad-heavy Internet was just a phase. Business models come and go. Craigslist killed newspaper classifieds as a business. Ad blockers may kill web ads as a business.

And we slide into closed and centralized places ... that is scary.

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#8

Post by ipsin » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:25 AM UTC

Given the date and the description of blocking ad banners specifically, my guess is that they were talking about an ad-blocking proxy like Internet Junkbuster.

These proxies weren't as easy to install as browser extensions, but they did a good job of blocking ads, and I remember similar conversations about The Future of Ad Blocking at the time.

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#9

Post by chc » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:26 AM UTC

mojuba wrote: post #2

As a possibility, a model whereby advertisers pay both content providers and readers for viewing ads. I can imagine a system where before viewing expensive content (your next ultradeep NYT analysis I really want to read) I'm given a choice to view an ad (video, audio or picture) on one of the topics I'm interested in and be paid say $0.001. There are ad processors, let's say 2 or 3 major ones A, B and C, with whom I…

What is the point of a system that pays people less than a cent?

Re: Welcome to the Block Party: The internet after ad blocking

#10

Post by venomsnake » Tue, Sep 15, 2015, 5:26 AM UTC

I don't run ad blocker since 2009. I just got that good at ignoring ads. F12 + delete offending element works wonders for the most annoying stuff. And there are always hosts files.