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It's an interesting business, where there is little or no demand for the "product" from the person who ultimately consumes it. So you have to figure out ways to

It's an interesting business, where there is little or no demand for the "product" from the person who ultimately consumes it. So you have to figure out ways to trick and/or force the end-consumer to actually consume the product that you have invested so much effort in producing.

vitd 12y ago
Yeah, I pretty much immediately close any web page that has an auto play video on it. If I get a link from a friend and a video plays before it, I just close it. No interest in that stuff, especially when I'm browsing at work.
my_username_is_ 12y ago
While I agree that most of the ads you see online today are not desired, I would argue that it does not have to be this way. When advertising is done right, it can open consumers up to products that they wouldn't know exist without ads. It actually creates value for both the buyer and the seller. A music news site [0] I tend to visit used to be a shining example of this--ads promoting new records by bands featured on the site could be seen in their banners and fit seemlessly with the rest of the page, now they've been replaced by McDonald's and Dr Pepper across large portions of the site. I've found out about new albums that I may not have otherwise listened to when ads were relevant; now that the site's admin realizes that fast food pays more than indie record labels I'll leave AdBlock enabled. [0] http://www.absolutepunk.net http://www.absolutepunk.net
- theorique 12y ago
  Agreed, I like watching coming attractions trailers before a movie, or having suggestions turn up in Spotify. However, in the latter case, I've already purchased the product, so the "advertising" is actually an in-product enhancement pointing me at getting more value out of what I've already paid for. I wonder if I would be so interested in the cross-promotions if I had to pay for new tracks or albums every time.

vitd 12y ago

Yeah, I pretty much immediately close any web page that has an auto play video on it. If I get a link from a friend and a video plays before it, I just close it. No interest in that stuff, especially when I'm browsing at work.

my_username_is_ 12y ago

While I agree that most of the ads you see online today are not desired, I would argue that it does not have to be this way. When advertising is done right, it can open consumers up to products that they wouldn't know exist without ads. It actually creates value for both the buyer and the seller. A music news site [0] I tend to visit used to be a shining example of this--ads promoting new records by bands featured on the site could be seen in their banners and fit seemlessly with the rest of the page, now they've been replaced by McDonald's and Dr Pepper across large portions of the site. I've found out about new albums that I may not have otherwise listened to when ads were relevant; now that the site's admin realizes that fast food pays more than indie record labels I'll leave AdBlock enabled. [0] http://www.absolutepunk.net http://www.absolutepunk.net

theorique 12y ago
Agreed, I like watching coming attractions trailers before a movie, or having suggestions turn up in Spotify. However, in the latter case, I've already purchased the product, so the "advertising" is actually an in-product enhancement pointing me at getting more value out of what I've already paid for. I wonder if I would be so interested in the cross-promotions if I had to pay for new tracks or albums every time.