5 ms·

Google's flagship product, in the sense of revenue, is the text ad ;-)

by drewda 11y ago

endtime 11y ago
The text ad which is targeted using AI?
- scarmig 11y ago
  I'm sure this is pretty proprietary information, but I do wonder what the value add of the AI-targeting is. Is it a relatively small bonus on top of a solid platform and audience for ads? Or is it the killer feature?
  - dcw303 11y ago
    Recently I searched Amazon to read reviews of a book I bought on Kindle a few years ago. Now every website with Amazon affiliate advertising is showing me ads for that book. Considering that Amazon could have run a simple account search to determine that I am definitely not interested in seeing ads for a product that I already own, I think that the AI-targeting ad revolution is a while off yet. That is unrelated to Google, but I haven't seen anything there that would suggest they are running anything smarter.
    - chm 11y ago
      I have the same experience. On my machine, only Safari is "vanilla" - other browsers have various levels of ad/js blocking. So the only time I see ads is in Safari. I can't believe they're still feeding me Newegg ads for components that I already own and have bought from Newegg. I understand that's not as trivial a problem as it sounds, but I can't help but think companies are overpaying for ads.
      - ethbro 11y ago
        To be fair, Google is in the business of making money on ads. If the customer wants to throw money on a stupid ad buy, then that's not particularly their concern.
      - ryanobjc 11y ago
        i have friends who work for retargeting ad-tech companies. That's those firms that bid for and deliver ads for things you just maybe bought. The deal is those ads show up when the ad space is the cheapest. It's known as remant inventory. So the retargeters can pick it up for very cheap. The deal is the companies KNOW that some people see ads for things they already bought. But some people are seeing ads for things like only considered, and bombarding them with ads does affect behavior. The question is, is the increase in revenue worth the cost of retargeting. The answer is very much yes. Even as it annoys people who already bought it, which doesn't even factor since they already made the revenue from your purchase.
    - rplnt 11y ago
      Yep, Google does this exact same thing. I search, I buy, and only then I see ads for a product I already own.
    - tveita 11y ago
      It's just as likely that they have done extensive testing and found out that for whatever reason, ads for products you already own still encourage you to buy other stuff. A lot of assumptions we make don't hold up when you start gathering real data.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- coldtea 11y ago
  No, the text ad which is targeted (crudely) using tons of data and some statistical methods. It ain't gonna pass the Turing test anytime soon, and it's not more of an "AI" product any other product with basic algorithmic based matching is.
  - genericpseudo 11y ago
    Google are a company whose core organizing principle is using statistical methods over obscene amounts of data. Apple is a company whose core organizing principle is selling desirable consumer products with class-leading design through the single most impressive physical supply chain in the world. OP has a point.
    - coldtea 11y ago
      >whose core organizing principle is using statistical methods over obscene amounts of data. Sure. And we didn't use to call them "AI companies".
  - endtime 11y ago
    When someone says "Google is an AI company" they're obviously not talking about AGI but about applied stuff like ML and IR.
    - coldtea 11y ago
      Well, then how about "Google is an ML company"? Though I fail to see any application of machine learning to write home about in their core business -- ads. Search yes, they do a good job on that. But given the amount the data they have on us (browsing history, profile, mails in Gmail) has anybody been that impressed with any targeted ad? I've seen targeted ads from "dummy" networks like the Deck that are 1000% times better for my interests.
      - endtime 11y ago
        > Well, then how about "Google is an ML company"? Sure, that's fine, but since ML is generally considered to fall under the AI umbrella your statement is more precise but not more correct. > Though I fail to see any application of machine learning to write home about in their core business -- ads. I know basically nothing about our ads (I work for Alphabet), but I believe there is some kind of ML involved.
- snowwrestler 11y ago
  When I buy Google ads I tell Google what search keywords I want my ads to match.
  - charlesdenault 11y ago
    Then you're wasting money.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

Google's flagship product, in the sense of revenue, is the text ad ;-)

by drewda 11y ago

Google's flagship product, in the sense of revenue, is the text ad ;-)

endtime 11y ago

The text ad which is targeted using AI?

scarmig 11y ago
I'm sure this is pretty proprietary information, but I do wonder what the value add of the AI-targeting is. Is it a relatively small bonus on top of a solid platform and audience for ads? Or is it the killer feature?
- dcw303 11y ago
  Recently I searched Amazon to read reviews of a book I bought on Kindle a few years ago. Now every website with Amazon affiliate advertising is showing me ads for that book. Considering that Amazon could have run a simple account search to determine that I am definitely not interested in seeing ads for a product that I already own, I think that the AI-targeting ad revolution is a while off yet. That is unrelated to Google, but I haven't seen anything there that would suggest they are running anything smarter.
  - chm 11y ago
    I have the same experience. On my machine, only Safari is "vanilla" - other browsers have various levels of ad/js blocking. So the only time I see ads is in Safari. I can't believe they're still feeding me Newegg ads for components that I already own and have bought from Newegg. I understand that's not as trivial a problem as it sounds, but I can't help but think companies are overpaying for ads.
    - ethbro 11y ago
      To be fair, Google is in the business of making money on ads. If the customer wants to throw money on a stupid ad buy, then that's not particularly their concern.
    - ryanobjc 11y ago
      i have friends who work for retargeting ad-tech companies. That's those firms that bid for and deliver ads for things you just maybe bought. The deal is those ads show up when the ad space is the cheapest. It's known as remant inventory. So the retargeters can pick it up for very cheap. The deal is the companies KNOW that some people see ads for things they already bought. But some people are seeing ads for things like only considered, and bombarding them with ads does affect behavior. The question is, is the increase in revenue worth the cost of retargeting. The answer is very much yes. Even as it annoys people who already bought it, which doesn't even factor since they already made the revenue from your purchase.
  - rplnt 11y ago
    Yep, Google does this exact same thing. I search, I buy, and only then I see ads for a product I already own.
  - tveita 11y ago
    It's just as likely that they have done extensive testing and found out that for whatever reason, ads for products you already own still encourage you to buy other stuff. A lot of assumptions we make don't hold up when you start gathering real data.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
coldtea 11y ago
No, the text ad which is targeted (crudely) using tons of data and some statistical methods. It ain't gonna pass the Turing test anytime soon, and it's not more of an "AI" product any other product with basic algorithmic based matching is.
- genericpseudo 11y ago
  Google are a company whose core organizing principle is using statistical methods over obscene amounts of data. Apple is a company whose core organizing principle is selling desirable consumer products with class-leading design through the single most impressive physical supply chain in the world. OP has a point.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >whose core organizing principle is using statistical methods over obscene amounts of data. Sure. And we didn't use to call them "AI companies".
- endtime 11y ago
  When someone says "Google is an AI company" they're obviously not talking about AGI but about applied stuff like ML and IR.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    Well, then how about "Google is an ML company"? Though I fail to see any application of machine learning to write home about in their core business -- ads. Search yes, they do a good job on that. But given the amount the data they have on us (browsing history, profile, mails in Gmail) has anybody been that impressed with any targeted ad? I've seen targeted ads from "dummy" networks like the Deck that are 1000% times better for my interests.
    - endtime 11y ago
      > Well, then how about "Google is an ML company"? Sure, that's fine, but since ML is generally considered to fall under the AI umbrella your statement is more precise but not more correct. > Though I fail to see any application of machine learning to write home about in their core business -- ads. I know basically nothing about our ads (I work for Alphabet), but I believe there is some kind of ML involved.
snowwrestler 11y ago
When I buy Google ads I tell Google what search keywords I want my ads to match.
- charlesdenault 11y ago
  Then you're wasting money.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]