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Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

research.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#3
If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server because I think eliminating all the code from the client would drastically improve user experience.

This would make them tougher to block and hinder users ability to control privacy, but it would also restrict tracking to that specific site.

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#4

If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server because I think eliminating all the code from the client would drastically improve user experience. This would make them tougher to block and hinder users ability to control privacy, but it would also restrict tracking to that specific site.

> If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server

The problem is the big guys can do this easily, but e.g. someone running a blog cannot easily serve ads from the server.

Ad networks are about ad auction and showing the highest paying available ads for a site. Client side ad solutions makes this easy for the little guy, because ad selection is done on the client by the ad network.

The big players (facebook, etc.) can easily alter their methods or require subscription if necessary. It's not so easy for the little guy, so a change of the current model without offering a similarly effective alternative is going to kill many little sites, blogs, forums, while the big players will keep thriving regardless.

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#5
post #4

If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server because I think eliminating all the code from the client would drastically improve user experience. This would make them tougher to block and hinder users ability to control privacy, but it would also restrict tracking to that specific site.

> If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server The problem is the big guys can do this easily, but e.g. someone running a blog cannot easily serve ads from the server. Ad networks are about ad auction and showing the highest paying available ads for a site. Client side ad solutions makes this easy for the little guy, because ad selection is…

If the small players can only continue to exist by serving malvertising, some might opine that they might not have a right to continue to exist with that business model.

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#6
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server The problem is the big guys can do this easily, but e.g. someone running a blog cannot easily serve ads from the server. Ad networks are about ad auction and showing the highest paying available ads for a site. Client side ad solutions makes this easy for the little guy, because ad selection is…

If the small players can only continue to exist by serving malvertising, some might opine that they might not have a right to continue to exist with that business model.

Why must non-server advertising be the same as malvertising? The integration type is different from the ads that are possible. Server-side integration doesn't affect what ads are available.

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#7
post #4

If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server because I think eliminating all the code from the client would drastically improve user experience. This would make them tougher to block and hinder users ability to control privacy, but it would also restrict tracking to that specific site.

> If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server The problem is the big guys can do this easily, but e.g. someone running a blog cannot easily serve ads from the server. Ad networks are about ad auction and showing the highest paying available ads for a site. Client side ad solutions makes this easy for the little guy, because ad selection is…

The selection isn't happening on the publisher's side, but on the ad-tech side.

Every publisher can enjoy the tech provided by Google, and participate in gaining money from this system, relative to it's popularity.

So what we see is that small players within the ad-tech business are dying, while bigger players (Google, Facebook) can not only adapt to the law, but also help writing the law.

So a hypothetical switch to first-party/server side ads won't have a negative effect on small blogs, because they can simply chose Google as their ad partner, which will create the necessary solutions.

The only advantage big publishers have over small publishers is that it's easier to scale the extraction of money from 10 million visitors, compared to 10,000 visitors.

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#8
post #4

If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server because I think eliminating all the code from the client would drastically improve user experience. This would make them tougher to block and hinder users ability to control privacy, but it would also restrict tracking to that specific site.

> If you accept that advertising is necessary to some business models, I hope to see publishers move ads back to the server The problem is the big guys can do this easily, but e.g. someone running a blog cannot easily serve ads from the server. Ad networks are about ad auction and showing the highest paying available ads for a site. Client side ad solutions makes this easy for the little guy, because ad selection is…

[deleted]

Re: Firefox: The Effect of Ad Blocking on User Engagement with the Web [pdf]

#10
> We conclude that ad blocking has a positive impact on user engagement with the Web, suggesting that any costs of using ad blockers to users’ browsing experience are largely drowned out by the utility that they offer.

Facebook: "This user isn't clicking any ads; let's keep them engaged more with pointless content until they do."

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