Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

We’re dropping Google Ads

groundup.org.za

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

551–560 of 617 posts

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#551

Post by [deleted] »

michaelmrose wrote: post #524
threatofrain wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My view is that if the population is watching ads, and somehow that is enough to float a business, then the population is actually paying for the business already, but through an indirect middleman. The population pays for it by buying more or paying more of some products -- in a time and manner that provides evidence to networks, content vendors, and advertisers of business justification. If we drill down further in…

Your argument sounds either as if people are obligated not only to watch ads but to change purchasing decisions based on them or the less gullible people ought to pay more. I'm not even sure how to effect the latter without making the current fish bowl infinitly more invasive. Even your choice of words is revelatory of a profoundly scewed perspective full of imaginary obligations. Of course those whose livelihood dep…

[deleted]

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#552

Post by taylorbuley »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #400
reaperducer wrote: post #15

I've been on the fence about this for a while, and after reading what GroundUp wrote, I can't agree with them more. So I think it's time for me to dump Google Ads from my sites, as well. I send Big G three million ad impressions a month, and in return I get $150 and a bunch of visual dreck that makes the site look bad. $200, if I'm lucky. And this is all U.S. traffic on an award-winning news site. I only need to sell…

3,000,000 for $150? That's criminal. How are you only getting 5 cents per thousand impressions? Are you getting really low quality traffic from far eastern countries or something? That's just extremely low even for Google. If your CTR is the problem, have you looked at placement optimization? My recommendation is to sell the space directly on BuySellAds. At $1.00 CPM it would fly off the shelves, but you can get much…

One thing to remember is that publisher revenue is net Google's monetization cut. Publisher's see just 68% of ad revenue sold on their site. So $150 is really $220.58 in gross, which is significantly higher.

Another point to remember is that typically publishers only sell to Google AdSense their unsold (so-called "non-guaranteed") inventory. Typically you take this money because it's better than nothing, and because you couldn't sell this inventory yourself. Usually this non-guaranteed inventory has a lower value then the stuff you'd sell yourself.

There's a lot of reference-style material on news sites, and the CTRs on that are not bad. Just look at Wirecutter and its affiliate model.

That said, industry average for news display ads is about 0.05%... 1 click per 2,000 impressions. No bueno. Say 3m impression get 1.5k clicks, that's $0.33 CPC net or about $0.49 CPC gross.

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#553

Post by chongli »

bandrami wrote: post #459
chongli wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other comments (including one by me) discussing this. I'm totally fine with it. Others have said that most advertisers won't pay for these ads due to an inability to audit and track users.

Funny, advertisers seem willing to pay for billboards and television ads. Remind me what the auditing and tracking capabilities there are?

I think the companies who rely on tracking, auditing, and preying on vulnerable users aren't typically those who would benefit from billboard or TV ads.

The companies who do advertise in more traditional forms of media tend to be larger and more brand focused. They don't rely on manipulating their customers in very short term, impulse situations. They rely on visibility and try to generate goodwill through elaborate PR campaigns.

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#554

Post by true_religion »

elorant wrote: post #216
omarchowdhury wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something wrong if you're getting paid $0.05 CPM for AdSense US traffic.

It's not a CPM problem, it's a CTR one. Click through rates for news sites are abysmal.

The more useful and relevant your content is, the less people are likely to click on ads to take them to something else.

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#556

Post by smsm42 »

xanderstrike wrote: post #533
Safety1stClyde wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily, I have computer-related content which gets results like this (a bit better than this, but I assumed that the parent poster was exaggerating a bit about the 3x10^6 traffic). The problem is quite notorious, and AdSense now refuses new "tech" content.

Perhaps users who are interested in tech are the same kinds of users never click ads.

Or, know how to install adblockers :)

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#558

Post by r00fus »

PaulHoule wrote: post #476

When I started with Google ads, Google was classier than other ad networks. Other ad networks were stuffed with free ringtones, sketchy supplements and other scams. Then at some point Google gave me the option to opt out of various objectionable topics and soon Google ads got as bad as the others. Maybe Google bought the bad ad networks, or partnered with them or something. Quite a bit of subtext is largely unexamine…

Wasn't the seminal moment when Google bought Doubleclick in 2007?

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#559

Post by bduerst »

gozur88 wrote: post #547
jes5199 wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet advertising is a bubble - it delivers so little value but so much money is flowing through it. It has to pop sometime.

What's the alternative? Broadcast television viewership is shrinking, and skews older. The demographics advertisers like are spending their time playing games and watching youtube videos.

Sponsored referral, social, direct mail, content syndication, out of home, etc. are all different channels, but depending on your product and your goals only a few are worth it (including search/display ads).

Re: We’re dropping Google Ads

#560

Post by bduerst »

xanderstrike wrote: post #557
smsm42 wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, know how to install adblockers :)

Do people with adblockers count as an impression?

Typically not. They don't initialize the scripts that are required to track and log the impression.

It's pretty well known that techies don't click on ads, but they're only a smaller segment of the internet population.

Post reply on HN