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One of the things that made google's ad network successful in my opinion was the fact they're text based and were obviously ads. I've never had a reason to bloc

by wnevets 11y ago

One of the things that made google's ad network successful in my opinion was the fact they're text based and were obviously ads. I've never had a reason to block em and its the main reason I don't get upset when people complain about adblock plus's whitelist. I wish more advertisers would follow in google's footsteps, the full screen video ads are reminding me of the days leading up to the .com bubble burst.

duskwuff 11y ago
They were text-based, that is. AdSense seems to almost alway ends up placing graphical ads now, though...
anigbrowl 11y ago
Absolutely. I run adblock, and HTTP Switchboard but I am absolutely OK with Google's ads (and actually, Facebook sponsored posts as well) because they're consistently framed as ads and they don't impose a big cognitive load. I even click on them sometimes, and even make purchases sometimes! If you tell me your commercial message politely, well, I may or may not be interested but I don't mind. But if You engage in the visual equivalent of shouting with eye-catching designs, animation, faux-interactivity and so on - then I will tune you out. I guess advertisers use these techniques because they work on enough people to be profitable, so they don't care about the sales they lose by irritating people like myself to the point of being blocked. But I don't think they're doing their clients any favors. The one thing from Google that I do block is advertising on YouTube. Just give it up and try something else already - why would I want to import everything that sucks about television/radio advertising?
- diminish 11y ago
  As an advertiser and publisher I resisted ad blockers for a long time and YouTube ads drove me so crazy that I had to install them feel finally.. So the guy who converted YouTube to a TV channel coated Google and all the publishers a huge sum.
- minthd 11y ago
  >> Just give it up and try something else already - why would I want to import everything that sucks about television/radio advertising? I think they are trying payment based schemes. But for people who prefer not to pay - what is there other than ads and freemium[1] ? [1]that's usually exchanging user advertising versus free service - but Google doesn't need advertising.
- smhg 11y ago
  > The one thing from Google that I do block is advertising on YouTube. Which annoy(ed) you most? The leading ad-video or the banner at the bottom? For me it's the second by far, although I don't see how the leading ad-video can have any decent conversation rate. Even with the best possible contextual placement. Is it safe to assume there just isn't a good way to make ads work on a site like YouTube? 'Good' meaning what you described for regular AdWords (+Facebook) ads (text and display): being reasonably interesting/properly timed and generating a decent conversation rate.
  - anigbrowl 11y ago
    For me the leading video. The bottom banner is also an annoying distractionbut at least it's relatively minor (compared to the lower-3rd monstrosities employed on entwork TV in particualr). The problem with the lead-in video is worse than a TV commercial, IMHO. On TV you go to watch a program, and the ads are an annoyance but you wait for them to be over and then the program starts at a fixed time, if you're not watching DVR, eg I usually watch a news program in the evening. But on YouTube, you make a selection of the video you want to watch next, and then instead some craptastic advert appears first. I don't understand why advertisers think this is a good way to reach people; yes, you get their attention by appearing as a surprise, but now consumers associate the brand with concepts like interruption and unmet expectations, before they begin processing any of teh semantic content of the ad. I frequently don't even notice what the ad is for because after the initial annoyance, my attention is fixated on finding the Skip button and counting down the few seconds before I can click on it. Many ads haven't introduced any product or branding by the time I skip away, and those which did so have already generated a reflexive mutter of 'Fuck off, Brand_owner!' Now that I mention this, just thinking about previous Youtube ad annoyances brings several specific brands to mind, brands which I would otherwise feel neutral about because I've never purchased any products from them. Instead they're now firmly coupled with swear words. Think about that if you're ever considering a video ad campaign; the people who click out early are probably not just disinterested, but may actively resent your brand and your campaign might result in a net loss of business.
    - snake117 11y ago

by wnevets 11y ago

duskwuff 11y ago

They were text-based, that is. AdSense seems to almost alway ends up placing graphical ads now, though...

anigbrowl 11y ago

Absolutely. I run adblock, and HTTP Switchboard but I am absolutely OK with Google's ads (and actually, Facebook sponsored posts as well) because they're consistently framed as ads and they don't impose a big cognitive load. I even click on them sometimes, and even make purchases sometimes! If you tell me your commercial message politely, well, I may or may not be interested but I don't mind. But if You engage in the visual equivalent of shouting with eye-catching designs, animation, faux-interactivity and so on - then I will tune you out. I guess advertisers use these techniques because they work on enough people to be profitable, so they don't care about the sales they lose by irritating people like myself to the point of being blocked. But I don't think they're doing their clients any favors. The one thing from Google that I do block is advertising on YouTube. Just give it up and try something else already - why would I want to import everything that sucks about television/radio advertising?

diminish 11y ago
As an advertiser and publisher I resisted ad blockers for a long time and YouTube ads drove me so crazy that I had to install them feel finally.. So the guy who converted YouTube to a TV channel coated Google and all the publishers a huge sum.
minthd 11y ago
>> Just give it up and try something else already - why would I want to import everything that sucks about television/radio advertising? I think they are trying payment based schemes. But for people who prefer not to pay - what is there other than ads and freemium[1] ? [1]that's usually exchanging user advertising versus free service - but Google doesn't need advertising.
smhg 11y ago
> The one thing from Google that I do block is advertising on YouTube. Which annoy(ed) you most? The leading ad-video or the banner at the bottom? For me it's the second by far, although I don't see how the leading ad-video can have any decent conversation rate. Even with the best possible contextual placement. Is it safe to assume there just isn't a good way to make ads work on a site like YouTube? 'Good' meaning what you described for regular AdWords (+Facebook) ads (text and display): being reasonably interesting/properly timed and generating a decent conversation rate.
- anigbrowl 11y ago
  For me the leading video. The bottom banner is also an annoying distractionbut at least it's relatively minor (compared to the lower-3rd monstrosities employed on entwork TV in particualr). The problem with the lead-in video is worse than a TV commercial, IMHO. On TV you go to watch a program, and the ads are an annoyance but you wait for them to be over and then the program starts at a fixed time, if you're not watching DVR, eg I usually watch a news program in the evening. But on YouTube, you make a selection of the video you want to watch next, and then instead some craptastic advert appears first. I don't understand why advertisers think this is a good way to reach people; yes, you get their attention by appearing as a surprise, but now consumers associate the brand with concepts like interruption and unmet expectations, before they begin processing any of teh semantic content of the ad. I frequently don't even notice what the ad is for because after the initial annoyance, my attention is fixated on finding the Skip button and counting down the few seconds before I can click on it. Many ads haven't introduced any product or branding by the time I skip away, and those which did so have already generated a reflexive mutter of 'Fuck off, Brand_owner!' Now that I mention this, just thinking about previous Youtube ad annoyances brings several specific brands to mind, brands which I would otherwise feel neutral about because I've never purchased any products from them. Instead they're now firmly coupled with swear words. Think about that if you're ever considering a video ad campaign; the people who click out early are probably not just disinterested, but may actively resent your brand and your campaign might result in a net loss of business.
  - snake117 11y ago