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VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

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Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#51

Post by lazyjones »

franciscop wrote: post #6

If someone needs to have an ad solution to have their website running it is NOT a business that should exist. It's like we say restaurant owners should support the mafia because otherwise they cannot make money in the neighborhood. Or any other criminal(ish) activity. "Without advertising we wouldn't be able to run this" MAYBE it really means you shouldn't run it at all, but don't force advertising(+malware) down you…

> If someone needs to have an obscure ad solution to have their website running it is NOT a business that should exist.

It's not a simple black/white choice in most cases. As a top 10K website publisher, you have many advertising options. Some are considered safe and user-friendly (Google, DoubleClick - IMHO no longer justified) and others less so (pop-ups, various auctioned stuff). You then get to decide on these options by estimating the potential revenue vs. negative effect on users for each. Some sites are greedier than others, some marketing folks more convincing than UX managers, many people just don't know what to expect until they get their first sh*tstorm from users.

OTOH there are thousands of worthless sites that obviously only exist to serve ads, some major publishers included.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#52

Post by mtgx »

Is this really such a hard problem for Google to solve or is it just turning a blind eye to it?

Can't Google limit the size of the ads somehow? The number of requests per page? Whether the ad remains a static image or it's a video? I find it hard to believe it would be that hard for Google to implement restrictions around this.

And advertisers wonder why the use of adblockers is skyrocketing. If Google knows about this but isn't willing to fix it, then I worry it will allow similar stuff to work within AMP pages as well, but the difference will be you won't be able to block them unless you block the whole content as well. That would mean advertisers have learned nothing from the rise of adblockers.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#53

Post by spiderfarmer »

franciscop wrote: post #6

If someone needs to have an ad solution to have their website running it is NOT a business that should exist. It's like we say restaurant owners should support the mafia because otherwise they cannot make money in the neighborhood. Or any other criminal(ish) activity. "Without advertising we wouldn't be able to run this" MAYBE it really means you shouldn't run it at all, but don't force advertising(+malware) down you…

Do you mean publishers as well as advertisers?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#54

Post by archon810 »

chrismbarr wrote: post #37

One thing to note: When the developer tools are opened Chrome will temporarily disable the cache. When the video loops it would normally just reach into cache and re-play the file that was already downloaded. However, with devtools open it will probably re-download all the files again.

That's not true at all. It only disables the cache if you tell it to. Like so: http://i.imgur.com/dutc1cy.png.

As you can see, that checkbox is not on in the demoed GIF.

The ad code is actively requesting new ads and pinging its trackers countless times.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#57

Post by spiderfarmer »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #48
mpclark wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that straightforward though; these networks all pile in on each other, layers and layers deep, and in real time. It is very difficult for a publisher to work out who they are dealing with. The only network ads I had running on my news site were from Google Adsense, the seemingly reputable choice, but I found ads and trackers from all sorts of networks were infiltrating through that little window. The only re…

If Google started getting significant complaints from large publishers about the crap being served over the network, perhaps they'll limit the garbage possible to serve through adsense. It's this crap that's destroying the web and making people's devices unusable. Until it stops people will continue installing ad blockers. No amount of guilt trip adblock walls will stop that.

With large publishers, the people that could send such a message to Google are the same people that are responsible for maximizing revenue. Will they bite the hand that feeds them?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#58

Post by anexprogrammer »

franciscop wrote: post #6

If someone needs to have an ad solution to have their website running it is NOT a business that should exist. It's like we say restaurant owners should support the mafia because otherwise they cannot make money in the neighborhood. Or any other criminal(ish) activity. "Without advertising we wouldn't be able to run this" MAYBE it really means you shouldn't run it at all, but don't force advertising(+malware) down you…

But a lot of niche forums - games, hobbies and so forth are unlikely to monetise any other way. Should they die too? Or have to rely on a rich benefactor deciding to host a motorcycling (or whatever) site?

Few are going to pay a subscription to chat on a Civilization or fishing forum a few hours a week. Advertising should be the appropriate model for this. Trouble is it's being poisoned by the greed of Buzzfeed and Wired etc.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#59

Post by archon810 »

jkot wrote: post #55

> I'm at 53MB downloaded and 5559 requests. That was not advertisement, but malware. It is probably running DDos attack on some website. We should block that. Anyway, at ancient days I surfed with i486 on 14.4 kbps modem. Not much has changed since.

Did you look at the pings it was sending to its stats servers? It's not malware, some evil assholes actually created this VPAID concept with its players, trackers, and garbage performance.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#60

Post by anowlcalledjosh »

moron4hire wrote: post #49
adam-a wrote: post #35

I recently had a similar problem, browsing a reputable news site (newstatesman.com), I accidentally clicked an ad and got taken directly to a page containing explicit pornography. I complained to the site and they said they do what they can in terms of blacklisting ads, but they don't have enough time or staff. I can't believe there's no ad network that will take a stand against abusive advertising and actually vet t…

You would think some of the most profitable companies in the world could afford to hire a few interns to put eyes on any and all ads before they go out.

If you mean the sites that display ads, that's not how they work - ad companies bid on ad spaces as the page is requested.
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