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Ads are placed via an automatic auction upon pageview. GM and Ford both want to show me an ad when I google "what car to buy", and have automatic systems that d

Ads are placed via an automatic auction upon pageview. GM and Ford both want to show me an ad when I google "what car to buy", and have automatic systems that decide how much they'd be willing to pay to show me that ad based on my likelihood of purchase (income, sex, location, etc). Why not have a system that follows me around and outbids them using funds from my bank account, to show me an ad which is just a transparent image? That way I don't have to see ads but content creators still get what they need?

thekyle 7y ago
What you are describing is exactly what Google Contributor is trying to do. We'll have to see how it turns out. https://contributor.google.com/v/beta https://contributor.google.com/v/beta
- anchpop 7y ago
  It says it only works with "participating sites". I wonder why
  - gerash 7y ago
    The first version worked exactly as you proposed. The UX however was meh. You'd place a monthly limit on your ad (outbidding) spend (eg. $2) and it ended up outbidding only some of the ads: those served by Google which were also outbid by your amount. So from a user's perspective it didn't fully work. Also the ad space wasn't fully removed (perhaps due to technical reasons) but was replaced with a blank image. It also didn't catch on much. So they tried to pivot and now the program works with certain cooperating websites to fully get rid of all ads but I'm sure bigger websites would rather be in total control of monetizing themselves and can spend on the necessary IT infra. similar to most online newspapers these days. I think an advertiser (eg. a legal firm) might be willing to pay eg. $10 per ad impression but no user is willing to outbid it so I think the first model (outbid in the auction) is more sustainable and profitable for both parties but needs to have all ad exchanges on board. So in short, it's been tried but wasn't an instant (or even a slow) success and idk whether Google will continue investing in it or not.
pif 7y ago
Are you actually proposing for people to gasp! pay gasp! for content?
- anchpop 7y ago
  Google makes around 30 billion/quarter on ads. Assuming most of that comes from 200 million users (they have more than that but I assume a lot are not worth very much to advertisers), and their ad revenue comes from a 50% cut of the total ad payments, that comes out to around $300/quarter or $75 a month. I'd pay it, but I think most wouldn't.

thekyle 7y ago

What you are describing is exactly what Google Contributor is trying to do. We'll have to see how it turns out. https://contributor.google.com/v/beta https://contributor.google.com/v/beta

anchpop 7y ago
It says it only works with "participating sites". I wonder why
- gerash 7y ago
  The first version worked exactly as you proposed. The UX however was meh. You'd place a monthly limit on your ad (outbidding) spend (eg. $2) and it ended up outbidding only some of the ads: those served by Google which were also outbid by your amount. So from a user's perspective it didn't fully work. Also the ad space wasn't fully removed (perhaps due to technical reasons) but was replaced with a blank image. It also didn't catch on much. So they tried to pivot and now the program works with certain cooperating websites to fully get rid of all ads but I'm sure bigger websites would rather be in total control of monetizing themselves and can spend on the necessary IT infra. similar to most online newspapers these days. I think an advertiser (eg. a legal firm) might be willing to pay eg. $10 per ad impression but no user is willing to outbid it so I think the first model (outbid in the auction) is more sustainable and profitable for both parties but needs to have all ad exchanges on board. So in short, it's been tried but wasn't an instant (or even a slow) success and idk whether Google will continue investing in it or not.

pif 7y ago

Are you actually proposing for people to gasp! pay gasp! for content?

anchpop 7y ago
Google makes around 30 billion/quarter on ads. Assuming most of that comes from 200 million users (they have more than that but I assume a lot are not worth very much to advertisers), and their ad revenue comes from a 50% cut of the total ad payments, that comes out to around $300/quarter or $75 a month. I'd pay it, but I think most wouldn't.