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Ads chew through half of mobile data

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Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#211

Post by mahirsaid »

nytesky wrote: post #106
metabagel wrote: post #25

A lot of web pages only work for me on my iPhone if I use reader mode. Otherwise, the page keeps resetting over and over again. Firefox, but I assume Safari is probably the same, since Apple mandates they all be based on WebKit.

What web pages are you seeking out? I feel like I read hacker news, the New York Times and some local Reddit channels more or less. Search is so squirrelly and the passion GeoCities pages or Uni home pages are long gone, and blogs are corrupted by insidious sponsor endorsements, let alone ads?

I would prefer you to put hacker news in another category this site has quality information and comments unlike many other sites. This site also is not riddled with ads, which is a plus for all of us here. What makes you see that any other way?

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#212

Post by imoreno »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #126
imoreno wrote: post #117

Maybe the ISP should start charging the ad network instead of the user for ad traffic. Then they can start blocking the ads of people who don't pay. The user, who pays for the service, is getting no value out of the ads and the advertiser is freeloading the ISP's technical infrastructure and userbase.

The internet as you know it is the value you get out of ads. You may hate ads, we all do, but at least recognize the hand that feeds you. The alternative is subscriptions for everything, and as far as I can tell that is far less popular than the ad model we have.

I get what you're saying, but you're disregarding the point of my (admittedly tongue in cheek) proposal. I'm not saying there shouldn't be ads. Currently, the ad industry is subsidized by consumers because they pay for the traffic. Instead, the advertiser should pay, since they get the most of it.

Besides, this argument that without ads content can't exist is bogus. Firstly people have been creating art and knowledge without thought for pay since time immemorial, it's a basic human instinct. Were there ads paying for the paintings in Lascaux? In the early days of the internet there was little money to be made online, and yet the quality of the content was excellent - and yes there were banners and tracking cookies but it's interesting how the best sites had little or none of that, and when they did have ads the quality of the ads was very high too - relevant to the audience and not some worthless crap that is much worse than competitors.

To this day people freely publish quality content with 0 monetization, just because they want to. That type of content gets shared on this site daily. Technology has advanced greatly and simply putting a website up is very cheap now, and people have a decent number of hours to put into their hobby.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#213

Post by imoreno »

beepbopboopp wrote: post #185
lolinder wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The valuable parts of the internet are, with few exceptions, ad-free. Forums like HN, personal blogs and sites, paid services—these are the places where real value is to be found on the internet. The ad-funded content and services are almost universally low quality and designed exclusively to hack brains to keep them scrolling, not provide real value. What few exceptions there are to this rule are not worth the enorm…

My brother in code, Hackernews is a blatant ad for YC, look at title bar. They just decided they could afford the subsidy to run it enough to be the sole supporter. In general, its easiest to charge the wealthiest group with the greatest motivation to spend and that combination means in almost all cases corporations are better customers than individuals. Hence, advertising replacing subscription. Additionally this wh…

The term is "content marketing", and yes, ads are ads but ultimately people trying to release quality content for free to shill their brand is not very high on the list of worst things about advertising, I'm sure you'll agree.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#214

Post by eesmith »

withinboredom wrote: post #194
lolinder wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Virtually all news sites, regardless what side you agree with, have ads. Virtually all news sites, regardless of what side you agree with, are composed mostly of garbage designed to draw your attention, not inform you about things that really matter. They may provide some value in addition to that, but the advertising model ensures that they must hack your attention as their primary goal. > Basically all entertainm…

Reminds me of the days when ads were 5 or so minutes long, not just to convince you to buy it, but inform you why you should buy it. It wasn’t a dopamine laden 30s that tells you nothing about the product.

When was this time?

I listened to "The Shadow" radio episodes from the 1940s, sponsored by "Blue Coal". At 0:45 of https://www.beyondthebreaker.com/the-shadow-of-blue-coal/ "All signs point to a severe winter. Be prepared! If you want to be sure of even, dependable, helpful heat in any kind of weather, insist on Blue Coal. America’s finest anthracite mined from the fields of northern Pennsylvania. The coal that is colored a harmless blue at the mine for your protection."

That's about 20 seconds, and the blue color was 'a marketing ploy to distinguish its coal from that of its competitors. But the company took it one step further by actually promoting its product as being superior, longer burning, and even more “healthful” than other coal. No wonder the PR “spin” profession was so poorly regarded in that era!'

Also, 1971's "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke", was 1 minute long, and did not inform.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#215

Post by imoreno »

SkiFire13 wrote: post #135
imoreno wrote: post #117

Maybe the ISP should start charging the ad network instead of the user for ad traffic. Then they can start blocking the ads of people who don't pay. The user, who pays for the service, is getting no value out of the ads and the advertiser is freeloading the ISP's technical infrastructure and userbase.

ISPs are likely happy about it, since it means users will have to spend more. Ads can also be easily hosted on CDNs, so their cost for ISPs can be decreased significantly compared to other more dynamic content.

But it's a marketing win. Imagine an ISP that blocks most ads automatically, and what it doesn't block is excluded from your data cap. Shut up and take my money!

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#216

Post by imoreno »

drawkward wrote: post #186
AlotOfReading wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell, subscriptions aren't a reliable way to opt out of ads and ad tracking. Look at cars, cable, Uber, Spotify, Amazon prime, newspapers, telecoms, ISPs, etc. They all show sponsored content and upsell services to subscribers. I've tried putting my money where my mouth is by switching to subscription services for everything and I still have to go out of my way to avoid advertising with adblockers.

Advertising is a virus. It infiltrates all ecosystems.

I wonder if advertising really is a waste of time and money for the most part, and it's just that the advertisers are really good at convincing people otherwise.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#217

Post by hagbard_c »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #20
hagbard_c wrote: post #13

Ads? Which ads? None on my devices at least. Block the filth already, there is no reason to subject yourself or your family to it. Get a device which is under your own control - nothing made by Apple, get an Android device on which you install something like LineageOS or GrapheneOS or another similar AOSP-derived distribution, do not use unmodified stock Android distributions - and install several layers of content b…

Even an i-device can use adguard plus and get rid of most of the ads.

Most of the ads, except for those which Apple wants you to see, except for those in Apple applications, except for the fact that certain applications can not be changed because Apple controls which applications the device will use for given purposes, etcetera. Apple products remain under Apple control whether you like it or not unless they are 'jailbroken'. No, if you want as much control as possible Apple is not your friend.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#218

Post by Biologist123 »

amelius wrote: post #97
Biologist123 wrote: post #3

Fantastic example of a negative externality. Question: if the data costs were internalised, would an advertising-based revenue model be sustainable?

The biggest negative externality of advertising is the fact that it drives mass overconsumption.

If all the externalities were priced in, the model would certainly cease to exist. Several years ago I found a UN report saying the same about business more generally. I’ve recently tried to find it again, but it seems to have been removed.

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#219

Post by pvtmert »

I think the title needs 2016 since nowadays many ads transitioned from just pictures to even videos. Consisting much more than the text I read...

I would even argue this is a larger issue than the JS bloat websites are having...

Re: Ads chew through half of mobile data

#220

Post by erinaceousjones »

TechDebtDevin wrote: post #44
ziofill wrote: post #24

I love that the mobile version of the brave browser tells you how much data it saved you and how much time too.

Despite all their crypto bullshit and internal ad networks (which you can ignore/turn off), Brave mobile is great at blocking ads. For instance ive never paid for YouTube premium to get rid of ads on mobile and allow background audio (yes they charge for background audio). On Brave mobile you can turn on background audio for all media and ive never seen/heard a YouTube ad.

Firefox mobile is great for this too. uBlock + sponsorblock + the fact that FF continues playing media when it's backgrounded make listening to long videos (like publicly recorded university lectures etc) a real breeze, it's a godsend if you like to listen to lectures while on long drives etc

Edit: ironically my post in this thread about how ads are partially enshittifying the internet, reads a bit like a sponsored endorsement for FF :-) ah well. It's still good.

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