3 ms·
I don't think that adtech is offering anything more than a lateral move. Instead of hand-waving and tarot cards, now it's lying spreadsheets and "targeted" ads
by M_Grey 10y ago
I don't think that adtech is offering anything more than a lateral move. Instead of hand-waving and tarot cards, now it's lying spreadsheets and "targeted" ads that we all joke about because they're about as targeted as a SCUD. It's just another way to get ad money out of people who aren't ready to accept that advertising is dying. Sure, for a while you can "sponsor content" and all of the other tricks, but eventually people get used to it, and they block everything else.
Basically the issue is that the argument, "You don't want everything to be a subscription/walled garden do you?!" turns out to have, "Actually yes, given the other options, yes we do!" as an answer. Especially when it turns out that the price of a subscription is highly negotiable when everyone is negotiating, and piracy exists.
- exergy 10y agoFantastic points. I still cannot envision a world 100% without advertising, but my guess would be that the future would be more covert advertising, in the form of product placements etc. On the other hand, I think as the world becomes less materialistic (because it just isn't cool to hoard stuff now), perhaps the impact of having James Bond drive an Aston is going to become reduced. I will happily pay for Spotify, because it does what it says on the tin: all my music in one place, fuss-free and then it gets out of my way. On the other hand, Netflix is now boring because they don't have all that I want, and so both Netflix and the Movie/TV licensing companies lose my money. I really like your last point. The price of a subscription should be highly negotiable. The world is a more convenient place now (for a certain percentage of the world's population, admittedly), and expectations have shifted accordingly. Figure out a way of making me not jump through hoops, or you will lose.