What are these "ads" you speak of?
Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
61–70 of 97 posts
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't feel bad about it. All the small advertisers are glad that you don't view their ads because they know you won't buy from them anyway and would be throwing out money without getting anything for it. Expecting your visitors to look at ads that you get paid for is just another type of fraud by the content-generator against the advertiser. :-)
I've always thought expecting direct revenue from web ads was looking at the problem upside-down. Nobody purchases directly from mainstream TV ads. The purpose is brand awareness, and sidebar ads have always seemed infinitely more useful to build such awareness among the public. Optimizing on CTR or impressions just seems like optimizing vanity metrics, because they're easy to measure.
>Nobody purchases directly from mainstream TV ads. //
I doubt this is true. A small minority, yes, sure, I can certainly accept that. Any company that does a product based advertising push with a product launch also seems to disagree with you. I don't watch mainstream TV (partly to avoid advertising) but the little I do see still appears to have some direct purchase focussed ads - particularly kids toys at Christmas (it happens to be that I saw kids FTA-TV just before Christmas).
CTR seems a pretty good metric for engagement (yes you can't some false clicks; also assuming no one is maliciously generating clicks).
Impressions seems prone to many problems that don't make it easy to measure accurately - just because an ad is requested doesn't mean it's rendered to the viewable page area.
Still, I run ads on my blog which make it self-financing. I also have donation buttons (Paypal) and modified my widgets to allow ads to be turned off per blog-post - so some posts don't have any ads at all. Never had a donation but have financed itself [ie server costs + domain names + perhaps a tiny bit more] on ads for ~8 years.
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#63Almost 1500 days ago I made this prediction https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2300123 "(I can't wait for my quad core computer to grind to a halt with dozens of unblockable canvas advertisements wallpapering every website I go to from now on...sigh, the end is near" The death of Flash doesn't necessarily mean a better world.
Indeed, converting Flash ads into HTML means they can be far more subtly integrated into the page in a way that makes them much harder to separate out and block. With Flash, there was just one thing to block and most of the ads would be gone.
I have a feeling that the trend towards client-side rendering and single-page apps is partly driven by this too; when the JS for displaying ads is part of the JS for the app's core functionality, it gets more difficult to distinguish and remove.
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#64Shame that I automatically convert all ads to nonexistance. It's too little, too late for rich media/content-heavy ads. Especially in the mobile sector: * Ads are a performance burden on low-power devices * They consume extra battery; power is wasted on superfluous cruft * Bandwidth wasted; especially a concern given draconian data caps * Tracking and privacy concerns Not to mention the fact that ads are a primary at…
Off-Topic: Can you expand on why you feel data caps are "draconian"?
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#65Almost 1500 days ago I made this prediction https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2300123 "(I can't wait for my quad core computer to grind to a halt with dozens of unblockable canvas advertisements wallpapering every website I go to from now on...sigh, the end is near" The death of Flash doesn't necessarily mean a better world.
Indeed, converting Flash ads into HTML means they can be far more subtly integrated into the page in a way that makes them much harder to separate out and block. With Flash, there was just one thing to block and most of the ads would be gone. I have a feeling that the trend towards client-side rendering and single-page apps is partly driven by this too; when the JS for displaying ads is part of the JS for the app's c…
perfect.this is very helpful.thank you
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#66Shame that I automatically convert all ads to nonexistance. It's too little, too late for rich media/content-heavy ads. Especially in the mobile sector: * Ads are a performance burden on low-power devices * They consume extra battery; power is wasted on superfluous cruft * Bandwidth wasted; especially a concern given draconian data caps * Tracking and privacy concerns Not to mention the fact that ads are a primary at…
Ugh. Blocking or not installing Flash used to be an easy way to avoid the most annoying ads. Now I need to figure out some mixture of request-blocking and CSS element-hiding to make them go away. And CSS hiding doesn't address the fact that most of the bandwidth I buy on a cell carries content I don't want: a 1000-word article is maybe 5k of text, but how many megabytes of ads and Javascript garbage? Nor does it prev…
If you can live without Flash, it's worth uninstalling. These days, the killer apps you'll experience from Flash are zero-day exploits.
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#67I run the flash blocker extension in Chrome. So I expect, the next extension I'll be running is a tag blocker with an option to enable on demand. (edit: known as "click to play" mode)
fyi you dont need an extension, Chrome has native click to play support
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like you, I don't mind ads per se. I even feel badly blocking them, knowing that I'm depriving a content creator of revenue. But the issues you point out are the very reason I can't have them in my browser. I used a computer without AdBlock the other day, and it was like stepping back into 1999 with every page saturated with the 21st century equivalent of animated GIFs and auto-play MIDIs. An alternative ad network i…
I used to work in the ad industry and deeply analyzed this stuff. There's a lot of unspoken secrets in the industry: 1. The majority of clicks go to flashy, annoying ads. 2. People who click on these ads rarely convert, i.e. sign up for a newsletter or purchase a product. These are probably accidental clicks. 3. The ROI on advertising is often negative. 4. No one cares about any of this because click through rates ar…
I've concluded that Gresham's Law is among the universals in economics. It joins a very few others, including the Law of Diminishing Returns and the Jevons Paradox.
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've always thought expecting direct revenue from web ads was looking at the problem upside-down. Nobody purchases directly from mainstream TV ads. The purpose is brand awareness, and sidebar ads have always seemed infinitely more useful to build such awareness among the public. Optimizing on CTR or impressions just seems like optimizing vanity metrics, because they're easy to measure.
> Nobody purchases directly from mainstream TV ads. // I doubt this is true. A small minority, yes, sure, I can certainly accept that. Any company that does a product based advertising push with a product launch also seems to disagree with you. I don't watch mainstream TV (partly to avoid advertising) but the little I do see still appears to have some direct purchase focussed ads - particularly kids toys at Christmas…
When I said "nobody purchases directly," what I meant was that nobody presses a button to buy Pepsi or Coca-Cola when their ads air. Infomercials would be a good counterpoint, as would direct sale telephone advertisements.
But the best and most expensive television advertisements, from primetime to the Superbowl, are bought on the assumption that they increase brand awareness, driving future sales.
In the online space, our ad networks seem to be stuck in a permanent parade of crosses between infomercials and billboards, attempting to push product right now. To me, that seems to be leaving a lot of opportunity on the table.
Re: Google now automatically converts Flash ads to HTML5
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to work in the ad industry and deeply analyzed this stuff. There's a lot of unspoken secrets in the industry: 1. The majority of clicks go to flashy, annoying ads. 2. People who click on these ads rarely convert, i.e. sign up for a newsletter or purchase a product. These are probably accidental clicks. 3. The ROI on advertising is often negative. 4. No one cares about any of this because click through rates ar…
I've concluded that Gresham's Law is among the universals in economics. It joins a very few others, including the Law of Diminishing Returns and the Jevons Paradox.
What's the relevance of Gresham's Law here? Not criticizing, just genuinely curious.