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Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

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Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#541

Post by muffinman26 »

bluGill wrote: post #324
atoav wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has been in one or another meeting with German TV stations I can assure you this is not completely far fetched. The people deciding what is running at these stations are of the mindset (a translated quote): > Our average viewer is 65 years old and watches TV while doing the dishes, we must not show things that cannot be understood by them and then they will serenade about how they would "love to have a…

That is always the problem with data: it is reactive. Sure the average watcher is 65, and wants easy to understand stuff: that is what the data shows (I'll assume for discussion that is what the data shows, but I have no insight into if it is true or not). What the data doesn't show is if content would draw in day 25 year olds, they need several years of trying those other shows to see if it makes a difference - a ve…

In the US there's actually an FCC requirement that television channels air news.

From https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting: "virtually every station has an obligation to provide news, public affairs, and other programming that specifically treats the important issues facing its community." The details are specific to the license, but almost every station is required to air at least an hour of news a day.

There's also requirements to air a certain number of hours of educational material for children (https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-educational-t...).

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#542

Post by JohnFen »

platz wrote: post #207

Adblocking an immoral tragedy of the commons type move. Psychologically, It's not unlike NIMBYism or residents of a gated community that figured out how to avoid paying their taxes.

> Adblocking an immoral tragedy of the commons type move.

Adblocking is a reasonable defense against the constant and expanding abuse (of both people and the commons) that the ad industry brought on us.

For the record, I don't engage in ad blocking as such. I block scripts, which has the side effect of blocking much of the more abusive ads. However, reasonable ads aren't blocked at all -- it's just that there aren't many reasonable ads on the internet.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#545

Post by WorldMaker »

cm2187 wrote: post #205
turbinerneiter wrote: post #15

There is a German movie about the system that is used to gather TV ratings. It's a special box that some users get which reports what they are watching. Small sample size goes into a big statistic (not sure how accurate the portrayal of the system in the movie is). These boxes are given to the people who pay the German public TV fee, which excludes i.e. students (they don't have to pay) and some other groups. This gr…

Don't modern internet-connected TV boxes snitch on what people are watching? Surely we don't need a sampling anymore? Just thinking that the elderly population is probably the least likely to use those boxes (though I am not even sure of that), whereas they constitute the (dying) core of traditional TV viewership.

Ironically, modern streaming apps have far more accurate numbers than anything Nielsen ever cooked up sampling people, but Netflix made the precedence that they should be "secret sauce" and not shared publicly and most of the "Streaming Wars" diaspora today are following that policy/precedent.

We're in something of a worst of both worlds situation where Nielsen has an increasingly small number of viewers where traditional TV boxes work to get decent samples, has to rely more than ever on surveys, and distrusts all streaming viewership numbers because they are cloak and dagger white lies between competitors, despite in theory being way more accurate than all the previous tools (the surveys and the TV boxes).

It's almost wild. The most forthcoming to shareholders/the general public over the years has been Hulu and Hulu's numbers at times have suggested Nielsen's data is very, very wrong right now, but Nielsen doesn't trust Hulu's data at all because it smells like lies because Netflix does nothing but lie or ghost them.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#546

Post by floatingatoll »

polote wrote: post #409
sidibe wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason Firefox is higher is probably because it's the easiest one to block ads on mobile. Most people I know who use Firefox on mobile do so specifically to have ublock origin. I personally use chrome on desktop but Firefox on mobile.

The reason Firefox is higher is probably because users who choose it are more educated about the internet and are probably the ones who know how to use an adblocker. So it is unlikely that the proportion of users who use Firefox globally is higher than what stats give us.

I thought Firefox desktop and mobile blocked Google Analytics by default these days, as part of the general anti-tracking protections. Maybe I’m wrong, though?

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#547

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #492
silon42 wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you assume they are getting all browsing data?

Motive + ability. They want all the data and they own the OS. Why would you assume they aren't?

Motive + ability aren't the only things. That'd be a clear invasion of privacy that you could expect to win a court case over.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#548

Post by lamontcg »

bluGill wrote: post #324
atoav wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has been in one or another meeting with German TV stations I can assure you this is not completely far fetched. The people deciding what is running at these stations are of the mindset (a translated quote): > Our average viewer is 65 years old and watches TV while doing the dishes, we must not show things that cannot be understood by them and then they will serenade about how they would "love to have a…

That is always the problem with data: it is reactive. Sure the average watcher is 65, and wants easy to understand stuff: that is what the data shows (I'll assume for discussion that is what the data shows, but I have no insight into if it is true or not). What the data doesn't show is if content would draw in day 25 year olds, they need several years of trying those other shows to see if it makes a difference - a ve…

"you don't build bridges by measuring swimmers" or whatever that quote is.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#549

Post by ravenstine »

jccalhoun wrote: post #299

I am amazed at how non-techy people use the internet. I teach college and I will sometimes have students go to some web site. I am amazed at how few use adblocking and just accept all the ads and popups and overlays and crap. Even more than that, I will see them using something like google docs and google will put an overlay for some new feature and they don't click the X to close it. They just type away with that ov…

Not only that but some of them actually think there's a moral problem with blocking ads.

Perhaps if the advertising industry didn't already prove for 20+ years that they are entirely made up of scum, I would agree. People use ads to make money. I feel bad that they aren't making money passively that way.

But I grew up with ad networks, including Google themselves, turning a blind eye to deceptive ads, bait and switch, fake window popups, and outright scams. The online advertising industry has done everything they could to fuck us over and big tech companies were complicit in the crime.

So that's why I don't care about running an ad blocker. Maybe the advertising industry will have a code of ethics after I'm dead, but until then I'll keep using uBlock Origin and NoScript (and other extensions) to screw with the ad business as much as possible.

Putting aside the ethics, advertising turns the internet into a race to the bottom. Ad blocking is good for the internet because it means that your ads had better be good, minimally intrusive, and also be integrated with the content you are providing. In other words, do things like preroll and midroll sponsorships and referrals rather than slap a bunch of banners on your site that peddle crap du juor.

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