4 ms·

> But they are as welcome as ads on TV are. You say that as if TV adverts are a failure. TV Advertising spend in the US alone last year was $50bn, that's more

by ig1 15y ago

> But they are as welcome as ads on TV are. You say that as if TV adverts are a failure. TV Advertising spend in the US alone last year was $50bn, that's more than the entire global online ad spend. While I think Facebook has far more relevance based upon demographic targeting than TV, no-one's disputing that it doesn't have the intent matching that search advertising has (although if they allowed advertiser to target based upon status updates they could significantly close the gap). But that doesn't matter, it has a huge number of ad impressions and even at much lower CPM than search advertising they can still make a fortune. > I suspect a huge portion of that comes from virtual goods. Unlikely. Several third party companies have analyzed Facebook ads (based upon pricing which is public and sampling to measure ad fill rate, and surveying big agencies who buy ads direct) and general estimates for last year were that Facebook probably made in the region of $1.5-$2bn from advertising. So if that $1.6bn figure is accurate it seems likely that >90% will be from ads. I'm not just arguing this as a bystander, I'm arguing this as someone who's bought over 25 million ad impressions on Facebook this year, because my cost per conversion on Facebook is less than my cost on Google (I still buy ads on both though).

shoham 15y ago
TV ads work because, and only if they grab the attention of the viewer. I've bought tens of millions of FB impressions this year myself. The results have been fine, but I've moved on. It's really easy to ignore Facebook ads, and the point of Facebook isn't to help you get off of Facebook, so I don't know how good that is in the long run for any business to buy postage stamp sized display ads on. Personally, I think that the Reddit model has some potential. Have you checked out/used their system? I think that it's imperfect, as I stated here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2968162 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2968162 but there are some good aspects, and we've been more successful there than anywhere else.
- ig1 15y ago
  Out of curiosity If the results were good why did you stop using them ? I'm currently running my first extended ad campaign on Reddit, I've used it in bursts before, but now I'm gathering data to see if it's still effective over a longer time period. My current platforms for advertising are: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, PlentyOfFish, Reddit and Bing. They all have advantages and disadvantages.
  - shoham 15y ago
    We're a start-up with a limited ad budget, but I found Facebook to be a good launching pad for our first several hundred registered users. With Reddit we really get a good combination on by networking directly with artists (I'm a co-founder of this site: http://www.feed-forward.net http://www.feed-forward.net the focus of which is to help improve communication between artists) by posting our own works on specific communities on Reddit (I'm a musician, and the other co-founder is a photographer), and when others posting their work from our site to Reddit in conjunction with our paid ads. With Reddit, my feeling is that you really do have to keep it fresh for people not to tune it out. PlentyofFish? Interesting.

by ig1 15y ago

shoham 15y ago

TV ads work because, and only if they grab the attention of the viewer. I've bought tens of millions of FB impressions this year myself. The results have been fine, but I've moved on. It's really easy to ignore Facebook ads, and the point of Facebook isn't to help you get off of Facebook, so I don't know how good that is in the long run for any business to buy postage stamp sized display ads on. Personally, I think that the Reddit model has some potential. Have you checked out/used their system? I think that it's imperfect, as I stated here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2968162 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2968162 but there are some good aspects, and we've been more successful there than anywhere else.

ig1 15y ago
Out of curiosity If the results were good why did you stop using them ? I'm currently running my first extended ad campaign on Reddit, I've used it in bursts before, but now I'm gathering data to see if it's still effective over a longer time period. My current platforms for advertising are: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, PlentyOfFish, Reddit and Bing. They all have advantages and disadvantages.
- shoham 15y ago
  We're a start-up with a limited ad budget, but I found Facebook to be a good launching pad for our first several hundred registered users. With Reddit we really get a good combination on by networking directly with artists (I'm a co-founder of this site: http://www.feed-forward.net http://www.feed-forward.net the focus of which is to help improve communication between artists) by posting our own works on specific communities on Reddit (I'm a musician, and the other co-founder is a photographer), and when others posting their work from our site to Reddit in conjunction with our paid ads. With Reddit, my feeling is that you really do have to keep it fresh for people not to tune it out. PlentyofFish? Interesting.