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What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

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Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#61
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon more or less won didn't it? It doesn't have total domination of ecommerce but frankly it'd run into anti-trust issues if it did. No company is going to do ecommerce bigger than amazon without getting broken up so yeah... amazon.

Moving more and more away from Amazon. If I especially like a product or company, I'll see if it costs about the same to buy direct and do that. I've found that lots of companies actually have better deals on their site or offer a coupon.

You're also far less likely to receive a fraudulent product buying direct from the company versus Amazon thanks to the third party sellers and commingling of inventory.

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#62

Overstated. This article assumes that: - All online advertising is Google search - That brand search advertising is representative of the entire industry There are plenty of companies making double-digit ROAS (return over ad spend), especially direct response advertisers.

How do you know it's not selection effect and the ROAS number are BS just like they are with Google? Have you tested?

Google and Facebook are 60% of the market, so if it would be only them this is important.

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#63
post #51
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But, you like accessing content for free, correct? That content doesn't exist and then ads are layered on, the context exists BECAUSE of ads. Like, no one would produce the content without the plan to make their money back via ads. This is how mass media has worked from the get-go. Radio stations were built by advertisers for the purpose of advertising. Entire genres of popular music wouldn't have happened otherwise.…

Actually, I'm aggressively looking for higher quality content that I can pay for, like (e.g.) nzz.ch for news. I was also a Google Contributor subscriber, before it required an opt-in for site operators. What I would really like is to pay for the Google Feed (aka Google Now) on my Pixel instead of having to ignore the ads that have recently started to show up there.

Does Google Now still not respect "I'm not interested" flagging?

I've tried to use it many times, but I'll keep seeing the same stories I've marked as not interested. One easy example is any Marvel release. I'll say not interested in "move title". Then the same story will pop up in the Marvel category. I'll repeat the process for Marvel, and the same story will show up as entertainment, repeat until I close the app.

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#64
post #4

It's seemed pretty obvious for a good decade that, if a bubble were going to pop, it would probably be related to advertising. Because if online advertising falls off a cliff, that hits two of the big tech employers directly. And you can be sure there would be major secondary effects on all the companies whose plan is to more or less never make money but be acquired.

[deleted]

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#65
post #8

> a Super Bowl ad cost three million dollars. Why? Because that’s how much it cost. What does it yield? Who knows. This article is awesome. In my free time I'm building an advertising platform that topic matches ads off the content of the web pages. No tracking of users. I'm hoping to allow people to host and run their own all inclusive self contained advertising platform for just a licensing fee. I also have a way t…

> I also have a way to beat adblockers that I'm afraid of bringing to light

Proxying ads through as first-party content?

If you really are invested in making them work ethically, consider these ground rules: https://bostik.iki.fi/aivoituksia/random/no-stalking.html

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#66
> A former Facebook engineer once said (and he’s been quoted a thousand times over): "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click on ads." I spoke to some of those best minds: economists employed and formerly employed by the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley...

Not to be a jerk, but almost none of the best minds in SV or of my generation are economists.

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#67
post #20

So 16 years ago it has been shown that advertising for your own brand name is worthless? Yet still in 2019, when I google for "Amazon" I see an Amazon ad? Color me skeptical. I doubt the marketing guys at the worlds biggest companies are that out of touch with reality. Would love to know why they do it though.

I think your answer is in your comment. Why would the digital marketing guys at Amazon say that their advertising doesn't work and their budget should be cut? They want a bigger budget with more responsibility, not less!

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving more and more away from Amazon. If I especially like a product or company, I'll see if it costs about the same to buy direct and do that. I've found that lots of companies actually have better deals on their site or offer a coupon.

> I've found that lots of companies actually have better deals on their site or offer a coupon. If coupons and discounts are the best the competition have to offer, then Amazon doesn’t have too much to worry about.

For me, avoiding the counterfeit gamble is a good reason to step outside of Amazon if there is any other reasonable option.

Re: What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

#70
post #20

So 16 years ago it has been shown that advertising for your own brand name is worthless? Yet still in 2019, when I google for "Amazon" I see an Amazon ad? Color me skeptical. I doubt the marketing guys at the worlds biggest companies are that out of touch with reality. Would love to know why they do it though.

Otherwise Google will put an ad for some competitor, that many people will take for a search result, in that slot, right?
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