5 ms·

In our experience the vast majority of the money into the system is from arbitrageurs. We've been fighting these guys for a long time. Here's a better solution

by malchow 10y ago

In our experience the vast majority of the money into the system is from arbitrageurs. We've been fighting these guys for a long time. Here's a better solution, now in private beta: http://pubsub.publir.com/ http://pubsub.publir.com/

davemel37 10y ago
Technically, all advertising is arbitrage between the value of the eyeballs and the cost to reach those eyeballs...Adwords and Facebook were swamped with arbitrage advertisers until they got better at relevancy. Arbitrage by definition will stop working eventually. you are exploiting information assymetry and a market inefficiency. Once better targeting is in place and mainstream advertisers crack the native cookie youll see the arbitrage die out like it did with Shopping comparison engines in adwords.
- malchow 10y ago
  Totally fair. I meant ad arbitrage. I.e., the advertisers are themselves running ad-supported sites.
  - davemel37 10y ago
    Even ad arbitrage can be a net win. If Foxnews buys a native ad on drudge report for a timely article, thats probably a net win for users... but technically, since Fox is supported by ads, its ad arbitrage. The "viral" and "slideshow forced pageview" sites will never be a net win in my opinion... but a quality publishers who is ad supported running arbitrage with native can be a net win. (Although, I would quicker call that audience building than straight arbitrage.) but, I agree. These single click ad arbitrage sites are pure evil and should be kicked off the native networks.
davemel37 10y ago
I wrote in a different thread about Cointent that I believe the "pay for ad free" model is addressing the problem in the wrong way. First, the pain of annoying ads already has a solution. We are already bombarded by content that its not very painful to just switch to another publisher and read a different article that is less annoying (unless its breaking news.) Also,Your solution doesnt address the problem at the moment I am experiencing the pain. You need to win on intellectual grounds without the emotional drivers. Youll probably get some traction and users but never mainstream scale. its too disconnected from the pain point. My idea/opinion, "charge a donation for sharing content." When someone feels compelled to share, they are seeking emotional validation, thats worth paying for.

by malchow 10y ago

davemel37 10y ago

Technically, all advertising is arbitrage between the value of the eyeballs and the cost to reach those eyeballs...Adwords and Facebook were swamped with arbitrage advertisers until they got better at relevancy. Arbitrage by definition will stop working eventually. you are exploiting information assymetry and a market inefficiency. Once better targeting is in place and mainstream advertisers crack the native cookie youll see the arbitrage die out like it did with Shopping comparison engines in adwords.

malchow 10y ago
Totally fair. I meant ad arbitrage. I.e., the advertisers are themselves running ad-supported sites.
- davemel37 10y ago
  Even ad arbitrage can be a net win. If Foxnews buys a native ad on drudge report for a timely article, thats probably a net win for users... but technically, since Fox is supported by ads, its ad arbitrage. The "viral" and "slideshow forced pageview" sites will never be a net win in my opinion... but a quality publishers who is ad supported running arbitrage with native can be a net win. (Although, I would quicker call that audience building than straight arbitrage.) but, I agree. These single click ad arbitrage sites are pure evil and should be kicked off the native networks.

davemel37 10y ago

I wrote in a different thread about Cointent that I believe the "pay for ad free" model is addressing the problem in the wrong way. First, the pain of annoying ads already has a solution. We are already bombarded by content that its not very painful to just switch to another publisher and read a different article that is less annoying (unless its breaking news.) Also,Your solution doesnt address the problem at the moment I am experiencing the pain. You need to win on intellectual grounds without the emotional drivers. Youll probably get some traction and users but never mainstream scale. its too disconnected from the pain point. My idea/opinion, "charge a donation for sharing content." When someone feels compelled to share, they are seeking emotional validation, thats worth paying for.