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"Take the example of desktop web browsers. Let’s face it, unless you’re really slow on the uptake, you’ve outfitted your web browser with an ad blocker.
by tormeh 12y ago
"Take the example of desktop web browsers. Let’s face it, unless you’re really slow on the uptake, you’ve outfitted your web browser with an ad blocker. Ha ha, you win! But wait—that means most web ads are only reaching those who are really slow on the uptake. So their dollars are disproportionately important in supporting the content you’re getting ad-free. “Not my problem,” you say. Oh really? Since those people are the only ones financially supporting the content, publishers increasingly are shaping their stories to appeal to them. Eventually, the content you liked—well, didn’t like it enough to pay for it—will be gone.
Why? Because you starved it to death. The immutable law remains: you can’t get something for nothing. The web has been able to defer the consequences of this principle by shifting the costs of content off readers and onto advertisers. But if readers permanently withdraw as economic participants in the writing industry—i.e., refuse to vote with their wallets—then they’ll have no reason to protest as the universe of good writing shrinks. (And make no mistake—it’s already happening.)"
This. So much this. I'm as guilty as anyone else, but I try to remember to disable my adblocker for sites I like.
- tomjen3 12y agoThe problem is that they would shift the content anyway. No reason to appeal to geeks when you can just write empty crap that gets ten times the pageview.
- angelbob 12y agoHeya. I'm the author of Rebuilding Rails. While I don't (currently) use paid advertising, I do work entirely to appeal to geeks. My second product, a Ruby deployment class, also appeals almost entirely to geeks. Geeks pay money for things. Not always, but it happens. That means that the shift of content away from geeks is to some extent in the hands of you (collectively), those same geeks. And me. I don't just sell to geeks. I'm also a geek who pays money for things aimed at geeks. You do too, if you think about it. Many of those things can be advertised. For an example, think about ThinkGeek.
- mcguire 12y ago"I try to remember to disable my adblocker for sites I like." Do you ever buy things from the ads? If not, there is no real difference between blocking and displaying the ads.
- omouse 12y agoThe difference is that the people buying ads are more likely to buy ads because they sometimes value impressions more than clickthroughs or they get confused and assume that more impressions = more clickthroughs though that may not ever be the case.