“The digital ad environment has to get a whole lot better,” Chavern explained. “Some ads are super-derivative of TV that junk up people’s experience.” Chavern said that he thinks the advertising environment online is going to get a lot better.
But Chavern also noted that in some cases the use of ad blockers isn’t delivering to users what they think they’re getting. A prime issue for the NAA is what’s called “Paid Whitelisting,” which lets some ads through while blocking others.
The problem is that with paid whitelisting, the ads that get through are the ads from companies that paid the ad blocking company to allow their ads through, not necessarily the ads the end user was asking for. The NAA says this is a deceptive business practice, and that’s the substance of the action filed with the FTC.
So let’s try to boil this down to its basics. Publishers and ad companies need to understand that their revenue woes aren’t the audience’s problem. They are the problem of the Web publishers who accept the ads and serve them up to their readers. To get a handle on their declining revenues, they need to find a way to get their audiences to willingly view or read the ads because they’re interesting or entertaining. Forcing the audience to view ads is not the path to success.
The Washington Post has faced this problem straight on it asserts it’s having less of a problem with ad blockers than many others. “You have to understand what ad blockers do to your business,” said Jed Hartman, chief revenue officer for The Washington Post, “and you have to understand why there’s demand for ad blockers.” Hartman said that there needs to be a plan for both and that it’s essential that you balance user experience with revenue, leaning towards the user experience.
The real answer is one of respect. Publishers and advertisers must get the real economics of their relationship with their audience into the proper perspective if they plan to stay afloat on advertising. This means they must respect the sensibilities of their audience for their long-term good. If they don’t, all of the anti-ad blocker moves won’t mean a thing.
I know from experience that it works. I still smile every time I see Mean Joe Green toss that jersey in the Coke ads or when I see a diminutive Darth Vader start a Volkswagen, or when I see a Clydesdale colt trying to catch up. But to do that means respecting the audience enough to make ads they actually want to watch or read. And you can’t do it by forcing that to happen.
Originally published on eWeek
Page: 1 2
CrowdStrike CEO summoned to testify before US Congress, as firm provides update about update that…
Senior management at Alphabet confirm substantial additional investment in the Waymo self-driving division
After three years of trying, fintech start-up Revolut finally recieves a UK banking licence, but…
Research from Virgin Media O2 Business finds majority of NHS staff believe new tech will…
Despite share buyback and positive Q2 results, Alphabet's share price falls over YouTube slowdown and…
Better switch to Firefox? After years of delays, Google performs u-turn and will no longer…
View Comments
Its up to the web page owners to put pressure on their advert suppliers to clean up their act. Currently I'm getting close to the point of installing an ad blocker, which will be a pity as some of the ads I actually want, but the slowness, intrusive ads and even worse those with blaring audio is becoming unacceptable.
So advertisers, agencies and web page get your act together or your business is going to lose another user!