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A good reminder that the business model of the free-content internet is a pathetically weak house of cards. Between the trivial availability of ad-blockers and

A good reminder that the business model of the free-content internet is a pathetically weak house of cards. Between the trivial availability of ad-blockers and the laughable vapidity of the form taken by most ads, I think we are due for a correction in the sector of ad-supported content. As others have pointed out before, I don't think we'll be losing much of great value and there are a huge variety of alternative revenue models available for user-supported content. And good riddance. If I go the rest of my like and never see another ad, that will be fine with me. Same goes for just about all the free content I currently consume. Won't miss it.

bduerst 10y ago
I think you might be projecting bias. People like free stuff - do you honestly believe that the market will go to a paid version of Facebook or Snapchat?
davemel37 10y ago
>free-content internet is a pathetically weak house of cards. >we are due for a correction in the sector of ad-supported content. In my opinion, the problem is with the ad tech companies themselves more than the free-content internet. I don't think the free-content is the problem as much as the incentive of ad tech companies and ad agencies to ignore or perpetuate fraud, arbitrage and gaming the system, and the branding advertisers who are too dumb to demand real accountability. Essentially, all these VC backed ad-tech companies need to show growth, so they want the fraud, bots and low quality ad impressions. Big brand advertisers fool themselves into thinking the quality of the placement is less important than reaching the right people, so they keep on paying for garbage impressions, feeding these unsustainable ad tech companies, without demanding bottom line accountability for measurable results. and... Ad agencies are compensated with an archaic model from back in the day when they earned commission from the publishers, so they want as much ad spend as possible. Plus, they like be treating like kings by the VC-backed ad tech companies. It's all one big party, where the consumers suffer and the legit, performance advertisers suffer. There is still, despite over 3000 marketing tech startups, no one really serving the ad buyers needs in a significant way. we don't need another bid algorithm or vanity metric system... we need ad tech that systematically roots out bots, fraud, and is accountable to bottom line results for advertisers instead of acting as a broker that makes money regardless. Build that tech and you will have a billion dollar company.

bduerst 10y ago

I think you might be projecting bias. People like free stuff - do you honestly believe that the market will go to a paid version of Facebook or Snapchat?

davemel37 10y ago

>free-content internet is a pathetically weak house of cards. >we are due for a correction in the sector of ad-supported content. In my opinion, the problem is with the ad tech companies themselves more than the free-content internet. I don't think the free-content is the problem as much as the incentive of ad tech companies and ad agencies to ignore or perpetuate fraud, arbitrage and gaming the system, and the branding advertisers who are too dumb to demand real accountability. Essentially, all these VC backed ad-tech companies need to show growth, so they want the fraud, bots and low quality ad impressions. Big brand advertisers fool themselves into thinking the quality of the placement is less important than reaching the right people, so they keep on paying for garbage impressions, feeding these unsustainable ad tech companies, without demanding bottom line accountability for measurable results. and... Ad agencies are compensated with an archaic model from back in the day when they earned commission from the publishers, so they want as much ad spend as possible. Plus, they like be treating like kings by the VC-backed ad tech companies. It's all one big party, where the consumers suffer and the legit, performance advertisers suffer. There is still, despite over 3000 marketing tech startups, no one really serving the ad buyers needs in a significant way. we don't need another bid algorithm or vanity metric system... we need ad tech that systematically roots out bots, fraud, and is accountable to bottom line results for advertisers instead of acting as a broker that makes money regardless. Build that tech and you will have a billion dollar company.