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

Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

abc.xyz

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 108 posts

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#91

Post by topicseed »

V-eHGsd_ wrote: post #74
anaanymouse wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even less data is being used for ads than when you worked there - Gmail is no longer used, Photos doesn't use them, Android doesn't except insomuch as the Google search bar exists on the home screen, Maps barely has ads...

> Maps barely has ads... maybe you're using a different version of maps than I am, but I just downloaded it and the first page is chock full of ads, it begs me to turn on search history so it can show me "more relevant results". it's also full of dark-patterns like if I click "commute" in the settings, there's no back " hell, when you finally disable the account linkage (another dark pattern hiding that option), the…

Not sure what the screenshot is meant to show but... There is not a single ad on it.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#92

Post by ckastner »

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #57
ckastner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About three months ago, I visited a friend and we looked up a 15-minute cooking recipe. We were shown three ads in the process. I subscribed to Premium quite early. They were showing me an IKEA bed ad multiple times a day, over a number of days. 3-4 different ads, but always the same product. The end result being that I will sleep on the ground before I ever purchase a Nordli bed.

You literally just did the thing that justifies the ads. You now have internalized an actual bed model and also spread the word that it exists as an IKEA model so the subconscious link is there, and to top it off you mentioned it on a forum, so thats free publicity Whatever Ikea is spending on ads is apparently doing their jobs

I "internalized" the bed model about as much as Bill Murray internalized "I Got You Babe" in Groundhog Day, or anyone else would remember something that they found extremely irritating.

And the saying that there is "no such thing as bad publicity" only works in certain cases.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#93

Post by ckastner »

iamleppert wrote: post #52
ckastner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About three months ago, I visited a friend and we looked up a 15-minute cooking recipe. We were shown three ads in the process. I subscribed to Premium quite early. They were showing me an IKEA bed ad multiple times a day, over a number of days. 3-4 different ads, but always the same product. The end result being that I will sleep on the ground before I ever purchase a Nordli bed.

The very fact you remembered the bed at all is a huge win for that ad campaign and would be seen as a success, not a failure. And the fact that ad caused you to purchase something (doesn't matter if it wasn't the bed itself) is a huge win for Google's Youtube advertising strategy. The net result is still causing you to part with money.

Ad remember: see the sibling comment.

And yes, Google getting me to subscribe to YouTube Premium is obviously a win for Google. However, if the most attractive thing about your Product A is that it's "not Product B", that doesn't really build the kind of long-term relationship with your customer that you'd like.

The end result being me currently evaluating whether I need the YouTube Apps at all.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#94

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

ehsankia wrote: post #56
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #53

I miss those days when people had nothing but nice things to say about Google, which was supposed to destroy the evil, not join them.

I'm curious, what are they doing different now from then? Back then they had an ad business, and now they have an ad business. Back then they created useful services like Maps, Translate or Gmail, now they provide useful services like Photos, Docs and Drive. What are they doing now that is "joining the evil" which they weren't doing before? Is your point about the fact that people's perception has changed? People the…

Now they had years of destroying trust, cancelling products and moving away from open standards (Reader, XMPP, web standards controversy, these proprietary Gmail experiments).

Privacy debacles like Buzz also played the part, as had this push for Google+, when they had tried to force everyone to use it.

Also, their grip on the Android OS is stronger, then Microsoft's grip over Windows ever was, and they abuse it, freezing AOSP and developing only proprietary features that lock developers into Google's services. Plus to that, they are now dominant in web browser market, with only Firefox being our last bastion against the browser monoculture. They have defeated the dragon and had become the dragon themselves. It's hilarious that the Boogeyman of the 00s, Microsoft, is now seen in a way more positive light than our former champion of the free and open web.

And yeah, the advertising had ballooned to insane levels.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#95

Post by creato »

ckastner wrote: post #93
iamleppert wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very fact you remembered the bed at all is a huge win for that ad campaign and would be seen as a success, not a failure. And the fact that ad caused you to purchase something (doesn't matter if it wasn't the bed itself) is a huge win for Google's Youtube advertising strategy. The net result is still causing you to part with money.

Ad remember: see the sibling comment. And yes, Google getting me to subscribe to YouTube Premium is obviously a win for Google. However, if the most attractive thing about your Product A is that it's "not Product B", that doesn't really build the kind of long-term relationship with your customer that you'd like. The end result being me currently evaluating whether I need the YouTube Apps at all.

That's a pretty big negative spin on the "free + ads or pay" business model. Isn't that the model we all want? We all complain about ads, but what alternative is there other than to pay money?

I gladly pay for content in exchange to avoid ads if I can. I'm fine with ad-blocking "morally" when there is no other option, but I'm not OK with blocking ads on services that offer a reasonable price to avoid ads.

Of course, if you don't want to use youtube, by all means, you don't need to pay for it. But I wouldn't view the "pay or see ads" business model as some gross thing to avoid.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#96

Post by ksec »

ehsankia wrote: post #56
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #53

I miss those days when people had nothing but nice things to say about Google, which was supposed to destroy the evil, not join them.

I'm curious, what are they doing different now from then? Back then they had an ad business, and now they have an ad business. Back then they created useful services like Maps, Translate or Gmail, now they provide useful services like Photos, Docs and Drive. What are they doing now that is "joining the evil" which they weren't doing before? Is your point about the fact that people's perception has changed? People the…

>I'm curious, what are they doing different now from then?

Nothing. To me Google has always been the same. It is just people believed in the "Do No Evil", when everyone has a different definition of Evil. So Google didn't change much, people's opinion did.

"Most Evil are created by those who think themselves as so Righteous." -Me

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#97

Post by ksec »

scarface74 wrote: post #84
webpaymentsguy wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have rejuvenated confidence in Google after seeing the push on Pixel phones and Nest devices, though that confidence still isn't very high.

How long has Google been selling their own phones without making a dent in the market? It’s estimated that Google sold between 10-12 million Pixels last year ( https://www.zdnet.com/article/pixel-3-by-the-numbers-googles... ) It’s estimated that Apple sold four times as many in one quarter ( https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-11-2... ) And Samsung sold twice as many as Apple.

>And Samsung sold twice as many as Apple.

Oh no, quite far from it. More like 50-60% Max. For the past few years Apple sold around 200M iPhone per year, Samsung on average sold around 300M per year.

But your point still stand, Google Pixel shipment isn't making much difference on the market.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#98

Post by ksec »

creato wrote: post #10
ckastner wrote: post #2

I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? They didn't specify how much they off of YouTube Premium, but at $120/year they'd need 125 million subscribers to match ads revenue.

Are youtube ads that much worse than cable TV? I pay for youtube premium and don't watch cable TV anymore so I honestly can't say myself, but from what I remember of each, they both seemed about on the same level of garbage-ness.

I actually like YouTube ads. I guess I am better targeted on the Web compared to Cable TV. So the usefulness on YouTube Ads are generally better, while Cable TV or other Offline Ads are better for Brand Building.

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#99

Post by ksec »

H8crilA wrote: post #4
ls612 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that $15bn number include all the money google takes in from YouTube ads or just the money they keep after they pay the channels who have monetized their videos?

It's revenue, so before paying off content creators.

Did they mention how much they were paying to content creators?

( Sorry dont have the time to read through it right now )

Re: Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 results [pdf]

#100

Post by scarface74 »

ksec wrote: post #97
scarface74 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long has Google been selling their own phones without making a dent in the market? It’s estimated that Google sold between 10-12 million Pixels last year ( https://www.zdnet.com/article/pixel-3-by-the-numbers-googles... ) It’s estimated that Apple sold four times as many in one quarter ( https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-11-2... ) And Samsung sold twice as many as Apple.

>And Samsung sold twice as many as Apple. Oh no, quite far from it. More like 50-60% Max. For the past few years Apple sold around 200M iPhone per year, Samsung on average sold around 300M per year. But your point still stand, Google Pixel shipment isn't making much difference on the market.

I was basing the number on the 3rd quarter figures in the link I cited.

But, fair enough 3rd calendar quarter is Apple’s lowest quarter for iPhone sales - before the new ones are shipped.

Post reply on HN