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Problems coming for online publishing

blogs.harvard.edu

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Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#31

Post by exolymph »

osrec wrote: post #10

I am rather skeptical of the effectiveness of online advertising, despite all the tracking and profiling. I see companies like Google and Facebook post bumper profits, yet I see users becoming smarter at avoiding ads. Something doesn't quite add up, and because the validity of clicks is shrouded in mystery, it's not difficult for the platform owners to play dirty. I have had very little success with online ads for my…

What doesn't add up is that you and your circle are not typical users. Try talking to advertisers doing direct response on Facebook — they keep a very close eye on ROI. Brand advertising is less trackable, but advertising does and has always worked. If it didn't, businesses that didn't spend on advertising would outcompete those that do.

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#32

Post by extra88 »

packet_nerd wrote: post #29
gcb0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't see users getting smarter about ads. trust me. you see your close circle of acquaintances getting smarter about ads. the general population is going downhill, by all metrics we have access to. In one case, people were trying to access a (fake) bank site, which had ads. it was an ad scammer that bought mistyped domains and cloned the homepages, in an automated way. and very badly. yet it had millions of impr…

Almost everyone tech savvy that I know runs an ad blocker and I've installed one for all my family members who aren't. At family holiday gatherings they've even started asking me to "do that thing you do" to clean up their browsers. Regular people are getting very very tired of so many obnoxious ads, and even though they don't think about it much, no one is like "hey, I have WAY to much privacy! I need to give away m…

You're still the exception. I don't use an ad blocker, of my two immediate IT staff coworkers, only one does use one.

However, I do do things that mean I see fewer ads, especially obnoxious ones. I spend a lot of my time in RSS feeds, not often venturing to the actual sites. When I do go to those sites, if ads are burdensome, I use Safari's Reader View and I have enabled the "always use" option for a few sites (e.g. The Verge). I'm also on sites like this and Reddit, which is quite ad-lite. I subscribe to one political news site which gives me A) full-text in RSS and B) reduced ads on the site (I occasionally go to the site because the RSS doesn't have images or embedded content).

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#33

Post by jedwhite »

The original title was "Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problems are nothing compared to what’s coming for all of online publishing" for those wondering what more specifically this post is about. I shortened it when I posted it to get it under the 80 char limit, but the further mod edits probably lost some information of value :)

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#34

Post by mlb_hn »

blablabla123 wrote: post #23
empath75 wrote: post #9

I think adtech companies are at greater risk than publishers. Publishers will move to a subscription model and most of them will be okay. A whole lot of adtech companies’ entire business model is sleazy at best and outright criminal at worst.

Yeah but it's also crazy how many pubs (the word is nice ;)) already had to close or at least merge which others. Google News made it quite obvious how redundant a lot of content is. Often articles are just exact copies of Reuters, AP, ... texts. If subscription is the only solution, I expect more pubs to disappear. Being from Germany, if I had to subscribe to nytimes.com to read articles from there I'd stop reading…

> Google News made it quite obvious how redundant a lot of content is. Often articles are just exact copies of Reuters, AP, ... texts.

Reuters and AP are newswire services which is meant to be used by multiple pubs because local pubs don't have reporters all around the world. The local papers' reporters are busy telling you what your local schoolboard is up to and whatnot.

But I agree more pubs will likely disappear or be merged into larger media conglomerates, and that leads into issues like Sinclair forcing all their pubs to push certain agendas.

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#36

Post by osrec »

exolymph wrote: post #31
osrec wrote: post #10

I am rather skeptical of the effectiveness of online advertising, despite all the tracking and profiling. I see companies like Google and Facebook post bumper profits, yet I see users becoming smarter at avoiding ads. Something doesn't quite add up, and because the validity of clicks is shrouded in mystery, it's not difficult for the platform owners to play dirty. I have had very little success with online ads for my…

What doesn't add up is that you and your circle are not typical users. Try talking to advertisers doing direct response on Facebook — they keep a very close eye on ROI. Brand advertising is less trackable, but advertising does and has always worked. If it didn't, businesses that didn't spend on advertising would outcompete those that do.

Then why are companies like P&G cutting digital ad spend significantly? And why is this actually having a positive impact on their bottom line?

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#37

Post by firethief »

fareesh wrote: post #27
IAmEveryone wrote: post #4

This is a rather asinine line of argumentation. (a) The New York Time's newsroom and editorial staff are rather well-separated from their business department which makes decision about ad tech on their website. If you don't believe me, see this paragraph from a recent article at The Atlantic, which operates by the same principle: As you read this article on The Atlantic, roughly three dozen ad trackers are watching y…

Arguing against one's interests should not necessarily be taken at face value. It's a viable persuasion strategy if you are in for a long con.

Ah yes, the old "maintain a good reputation by behaving honestly" scheme.

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#38

Post by IAmEveryone »

graeme wrote: post #12
IAmEveryone wrote: post #4

This is a rather asinine line of argumentation. (a) The New York Time's newsroom and editorial staff are rather well-separated from their business department which makes decision about ad tech on their website. If you don't believe me, see this paragraph from a recent article at The Atlantic, which operates by the same principle: As you read this article on The Atlantic, roughly three dozen ad trackers are watching y…

The mentions your first point, fairly early on.

Yes, you are right (and I was wrong). I admit I stopped reading when they suggested the media was being "ironic" (i. e. hypocritical) on the matter.

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#39

Post by cosmie »

protomyth wrote: post #30

Craigslist replaced paper's classified ads. Pretty much every website is using online ads. I gotta wonder who is doing the coupons that a fair number of people use the paper to get?

Coupons are a fascinating business, with a lot of middlemen taking cuts. From the agency that creates the advertising campaign (and possibly books the media) to the media platforms that display the coupons (whether inserts in physical papers, direct mail flyers, digital coupons via coupons.com/Quotient and retailer sites and emails, etc). Plus the clearinghouses that process the physical coupons for retailers, and the processors that handle the financial aspect of cutting a check from the manufacturer to the clearinghouse and onto the retailer for the redeemed coupons.

There are a few big names in each of those sections; but "doing the coupons" is an entire process that sets off a chain of necessary suppliers, rather than just a single name like Google.

Re: Problems coming for online publishing

#40

Post by packet_nerd »

extra88 wrote: post #32
packet_nerd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost everyone tech savvy that I know runs an ad blocker and I've installed one for all my family members who aren't. At family holiday gatherings they've even started asking me to "do that thing you do" to clean up their browsers. Regular people are getting very very tired of so many obnoxious ads, and even though they don't think about it much, no one is like "hey, I have WAY to much privacy! I need to give away m…

You're still the exception. I don't use an ad blocker, of my two immediate IT staff coworkers, only one does use one. However, I do do things that mean I see fewer ads, especially obnoxious ones. I spend a lot of my time in RSS feeds, not often venturing to the actual sites. When I do go to those sites, if ads are burdensome, I use Safari's Reader View and I have enabled the "always use" option for a few sites (e.g.…

> You're still the exception

Depends in the measure, I guess. Recent versions of Chrome have started blocking certain obtrusive ads by default. That's getting pretty mainstream.

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