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> in the real world, hardly anyone clicks on a banner ad ever In our world. Let’s be honest, there has to be a category of people that still falls for them, ot

> in the real world, hardly anyone clicks on a banner ad ever In our world. Let’s be honest, there has to be a category of people that still falls for them, otherwise people wouldn’t keep investing billions into this bullshit industry. The tech-illiterate are still very much prey for ads, I’ve had first hand evidence of this a few days ago from my flatmate (the typical idiot who “logs in with Facebook” everywhere, has 50k+ unread email on a Yahoo address and reuses the same password everywhere) when she fell for some weight loss pill scam ad on Facebook. I had to help her chargeback the transactions with her credit card provider.

kristianc 9y ago
> In our world. Let’s be honest, there has to be a category of people that still falls for them, otherwise people wouldn’t keep investing billions into this bullshit industry. Not just in "our world." The average CTR is 0.06%, and that's from Google's figures [1], 60% of banner ad clicks are accidental, 54% of Internet users have never clicked one. 25% use ad blockers. They persist because they're a) cheap, b) because everyone else does it, and c) because they may, tangentially, have some brand uplift though no-one can actually prove it. Some desperately dastardly mindfuck scheme they are not. [1] http://www.richmediagallery.com/learn/benchmarks http://www.richmediagallery.com/learn/benchmarks
- YouKnowBetter 9y ago
  The exact reason why google will, for years, happily ignore humongus ad-click-bot-farms.
- blanderman 9y ago
  I imagine that my CTR must be much higher than average, because I will click on any ads for brands that I dislike. The idea being that I am transferring money from the advertiser to the site that I am visiting.
crispyporkbites 9y ago
Agree - also if you've ever used a gambling app, they will push notifications to you right before your team is about to play or a horse race is about to start because they know you're likely to bet on that if you remember. Also banner ads are for gambling are more for impressions than clickthroughs, if you watch a football (soccer) game in the UK, the ad breaks are full to the brim with "BET IN PLAY, NOW" "BET BET BET" "NOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!" type ads which just put in the back of your mind. For a gambling addict it must be near impossible to resist.
- stochastic_monk 9y ago
  It’s hard for alcoholics in early recovery to watch football because of the pervasive, nonstop ads for alcohol. Add to this that most of the alcohol industry is propped up by the top 10% of drinkers who average over 10 drinks a day, and you have an industry built around taking advantage of people who clearly need help.
- jdietrich 9y ago
  For the benefit of American readers, I'll link to a few of these adverts below. It's worth emphasising the fact that ads of this sort are in every break of every match. The disembodied head of Ray Winstone bellowing in-play odds has become a cultural fixture. I'm a gambler myself, but I'm troubled by the ubiquity and sheer aggression of gambling advertising. https://youtu.be/l4INTKhOLSs?t=20s https://youtu.be/l4INTKhOLSs?t=20s
numbsafari 9y ago
I’ve never clicked on a single billboard, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from destroying the view.
- sixothree 9y ago
  That doesn't mean the ads aren't working.
thesumofall 9y ago
> otherwise people wouldn’t keep investing billions into this bullshit industry There are plenty of reasons why this money might be spend without clear evidence of a ROI: - marketing departments are under pressure to increase sales in a world where the traditional outlets (TV, newspapers, ...) loose relevance - internet ad campaigns look convincing with all sorts of nice numbers, but unfortunately many of those numbers simply don’t mean what one might think they mean (fake clicks, accidental clicks, ...) - the corporate world is slow. Which head of department would voluntarily suggest to reduce their budget? The higher ups are too far away to really challenge this stuff

kristianc 9y ago

> In our world. Let’s be honest, there has to be a category of people that still falls for them, otherwise people wouldn’t keep investing billions into this bullshit industry. Not just in "our world." The average CTR is 0.06%, and that's from Google's figures [1], 60% of banner ad clicks are accidental, 54% of Internet users have never clicked one. 25% use ad blockers. They persist because they're a) cheap, b) because everyone else does it, and c) because they may, tangentially, have some brand uplift though no-one can actually prove it. Some desperately dastardly mindfuck scheme they are not. [1] http://www.richmediagallery.com/learn/benchmarks http://www.richmediagallery.com/learn/benchmarks

YouKnowBetter 9y ago
The exact reason why google will, for years, happily ignore humongus ad-click-bot-farms.
blanderman 9y ago
I imagine that my CTR must be much higher than average, because I will click on any ads for brands that I dislike. The idea being that I am transferring money from the advertiser to the site that I am visiting.

crispyporkbites 9y ago

Agree - also if you've ever used a gambling app, they will push notifications to you right before your team is about to play or a horse race is about to start because they know you're likely to bet on that if you remember. Also banner ads are for gambling are more for impressions than clickthroughs, if you watch a football (soccer) game in the UK, the ad breaks are full to the brim with "BET IN PLAY, NOW" "BET BET BET" "NOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!" type ads which just put in the back of your mind. For a gambling addict it must be near impossible to resist.

stochastic_monk 9y ago
It’s hard for alcoholics in early recovery to watch football because of the pervasive, nonstop ads for alcohol. Add to this that most of the alcohol industry is propped up by the top 10% of drinkers who average over 10 drinks a day, and you have an industry built around taking advantage of people who clearly need help.
jdietrich 9y ago
For the benefit of American readers, I'll link to a few of these adverts below. It's worth emphasising the fact that ads of this sort are in every break of every match. The disembodied head of Ray Winstone bellowing in-play odds has become a cultural fixture. I'm a gambler myself, but I'm troubled by the ubiquity and sheer aggression of gambling advertising. https://youtu.be/l4INTKhOLSs?t=20s https://youtu.be/l4INTKhOLSs?t=20s

numbsafari 9y ago

I’ve never clicked on a single billboard, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from destroying the view.

sixothree 9y ago
That doesn't mean the ads aren't working.

thesumofall 9y ago

> otherwise people wouldn’t keep investing billions into this bullshit industry There are plenty of reasons why this money might be spend without clear evidence of a ROI: - marketing departments are under pressure to increase sales in a world where the traditional outlets (TV, newspapers, ...) loose relevance - internet ad campaigns look convincing with all sorts of nice numbers, but unfortunately many of those numbers simply don’t mean what one might think they mean (fake clicks, accidental clicks, ...) - the corporate world is slow. Which head of department would voluntarily suggest to reduce their budget? The higher ups are too far away to really challenge this stuff