5 ms·

I wondef how they manage to increase revenue. Their self serve ad manager looks like a joke.

hglaser 9y ago
It's likely that the largest advertisers don't use the self-serve ad manager. They call their rep who operates the system for them. This is why the self-serve ad managers for AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc. are all pretty unloved.
- albertgoeswoof 9y ago
  This is correct, all large companies use agencies to place their ads, almost never direct.
  - shostack 9y ago
    Ex-agency guy here, now client side. This is not the full picture. Just because brands outsource media management to agencies doesn't mean the many business reasons for improving the UI go away. As someone who has collaborated with Google engineers and PMs on such things before, I can confidently say they care quite a bit. You see, agencies margins are in part dictated by how much time it takes to do "low impact" but "mid-high" effort activities like reporting and day to day campaign management. It takes real people hours to do those things and if to platforms are delivering otherwise comparable performance, at the agency level, they will push towards things that deliver higher margins. Which might be the platform that lets them get the most done with the least effort. And I'd also add that i think AdWords and FB have some of the most user-friendly interfaces for such an advanced and massive feature set compared to other players in the industry.
- kn0thing 9y ago
  Yes. The team has started making some good improvements to self serve, though, and it'll keep getting better.
  - petecooper 9y ago
    For completeness, from kn0thing's HN bio (excerpt): >Co-founder @Reddit. General Partner @InitializedCap.
  - sodosopa 9y ago
    shutting down the_donald would be a great improvement.
- maxpupmax 9y ago
  Facebook ads has gotten a decent amount of love over the last year.
debacle 9y ago
Far more advertising, better CPMs, sponsored content (AMAs), and selling dark patterns as marketing strategy.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- wldcordeiro 9y ago
  They've already started! They're A/B testing the sign-up modal being uncloseable which of course means it'll pass because some marketing schmuck can say "See we get conversions!"
  - shostack 9y ago
    Can you elaborate on this test? Do you mean they are leaning towards not letting you browse Reddit without signing in? Or rather moving away from unverified accounts without an email attached?
    - wldcordeiro 9y ago
      The former, I'm a member of their beta and while I hadn't seen it since I've been logged in another user had posted in the /r/beta subreddit that when they were lurking and not logged in, the sign up modal came up but the close button had been removed. Users found that it was an A/B test. https://www.reddit.com/live/x3ckzbsj6myw/updates/9d3e8984-e05b-11e7-83d6-0e1595e3afa4 https://www.reddit.com/live/x3ckzbsj6myw/updates/9d3e8984-e0... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7kletc/feedback_whats_with_forcibly_making_everyone_log/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7kletc/feedback_whats... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7jw57r/encountered_an_account_signup_modal_with_no/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7jw57r/encountered_an... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7m2rko/feedback_homepage_login_modal_dialog/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7m2rko/feedback_homep...
      - hysan 9y ago
        Can confirm. I got it as a non-beta user while lurking. It also looked slightly different from screenshots others posted. So definitely being A/B tested with a few bugs (got PMed by a mod asking for details since users like me aren't supposed to get it).

It's likely that the largest advertisers don't use the self-serve ad manager. They call their rep who operates the system for them. This is why the self-serve ad managers for AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc. are all pretty unloved.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago
This is correct, all large companies use agencies to place their ads, almost never direct.
- shostack 9y ago
  Ex-agency guy here, now client side. This is not the full picture. Just because brands outsource media management to agencies doesn't mean the many business reasons for improving the UI go away. As someone who has collaborated with Google engineers and PMs on such things before, I can confidently say they care quite a bit. You see, agencies margins are in part dictated by how much time it takes to do "low impact" but "mid-high" effort activities like reporting and day to day campaign management. It takes real people hours to do those things and if to platforms are delivering otherwise comparable performance, at the agency level, they will push towards things that deliver higher margins. Which might be the platform that lets them get the most done with the least effort. And I'd also add that i think AdWords and FB have some of the most user-friendly interfaces for such an advanced and massive feature set compared to other players in the industry.
kn0thing 9y ago
Yes. The team has started making some good improvements to self serve, though, and it'll keep getting better.
- petecooper 9y ago
  For completeness, from kn0thing's HN bio (excerpt): >Co-founder @Reddit. General Partner @InitializedCap.
- sodosopa 9y ago
  shutting down the_donald would be a great improvement.
maxpupmax 9y ago
Facebook ads has gotten a decent amount of love over the last year.

debacle 9y ago

Far more advertising, better CPMs, sponsored content (AMAs), and selling dark patterns as marketing strategy.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
wldcordeiro 9y ago
They've already started! They're A/B testing the sign-up modal being uncloseable which of course means it'll pass because some marketing schmuck can say "See we get conversions!"
- shostack 9y ago
  Can you elaborate on this test? Do you mean they are leaning towards not letting you browse Reddit without signing in? Or rather moving away from unverified accounts without an email attached?
  - wldcordeiro 9y ago
    The former, I'm a member of their beta and while I hadn't seen it since I've been logged in another user had posted in the /r/beta subreddit that when they were lurking and not logged in, the sign up modal came up but the close button had been removed. Users found that it was an A/B test. https://www.reddit.com/live/x3ckzbsj6myw/updates/9d3e8984-e05b-11e7-83d6-0e1595e3afa4 https://www.reddit.com/live/x3ckzbsj6myw/updates/9d3e8984-e0... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7kletc/feedback_whats_with_forcibly_making_everyone_log/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7kletc/feedback_whats... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7jw57r/encountered_an_account_signup_modal_with_no/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7jw57r/encountered_an... https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7m2rko/feedback_homepage_login_modal_dialog/ https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/7m2rko/feedback_homep...
    - hysan 9y ago
      Can confirm. I got it as a non-beta user while lurking. It also looked slightly different from screenshots others posted. So definitely being A/B tested with a few bugs (got PMed by a mod asking for details since users like me aren't supposed to get it).