71 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

I have been trying to watch something called Real Humans which is a Swedish production and is subtitled. SPACE keeps putting those stupid ads right over top of the subtitles!

Hard coded subtitles can't be put on top of all content unfortunately. All networks need to avoid using layover ads on anything with hard coded subtitles. I do hate the layover ads, but I also understand why they are using them.

[sebberry]

The ads on this site are showing me products I've already bought.  That can't be an effective use of ad dollars.

[lanforod]

The ads on this site are showing me products I've already bought.  That can't be an effective use of ad dollars.

Now this is totally true. I recently bought a new car seat. Amazon, Sears ads keep popping up showing car seats. Shrug. I ain't gonna buy another one!

[pherthyl]

The ads on this site are showing me products I've already bought. That can't be an effective use of ad dollars.

Seems to be an issue everywhere. Not sure why they don't go the last step and mark what you already bought. Maybe some privacy restriction prevents them from exposing that data

[sebberry]

I think the problem is that since they're cookie based, they just tailor the ads to whatever you've spent time looking at on other websites.  They have no idea that you bought the item already.

[Mike K.]

Yes that is correct, but they also know a lot of consumers will return products so they don't mind showing additional ads. Oftentimes it also brands the store, so it's not a total advertising spend loss for them.

[lanforod]

Lately, I've been seeing various ads for Asian women dating sites here. I certainly haven't looked at anything like that, like ever.

 

- I'll probably get more now that I actually wrote a post with those words in it

 

Its stuff like this that drives people to use ad-blockers.

[thundergun]

+1

[VicHockeyFan]

Can't you just look past ads, like you've been doing with newspapers for 40 years?

[lanforod]

Can't you just look past ads, like you've been doing with newspapers for 40 years?

 

Newspaper ads don't animate, and are generally in black and white.

[Mike K.]

Neither do 95% of internet ads.

[lanforod]

Neither do 95% of internet ads.

I think you just made that number up. Probably closer to 20% or more do some sort of animate (ie. are not static). And they are all in colour. I do agree, it is easier to ignore if they are static. Newspapers probably vet their ads a lot more than Google anyways, and the higher barrier to entry means that there is less likely to be spammy ads.

I have no issue with legit ads - I see lots of ads for Mazda cars, or Rogers mobility here, for example - which are fine.

 

Refreshed a number of times, I got 4 animated ones, 5 non animated ones (for the left side ad that changes).

[Mike K.]

Have you seen what sorts of ads permeate the back pages of Monday Magazine and its ilk?

95% of ads are not animated.

[lanforod]

Ah, so now Vibrant Victoria should be compared to hooker ad rags. Wow. I was thinking more like, Vic News or the TC in terms of newspaper adverts.

[Mr Cook Street]

Ads for dating sites is responsible for a significant amount of the content we see online. Just ignore it, enjoy your free content.

[lanforod]

That is my whole point - users don't have to ignore them. They can block them. If websites only had tasteful ads, I think far less would block ads. VV does well compared to most, only having one changing ad from adsense, the rest are static and relevant, such as Marko's ad.

[Mr Cook Street]

My whole point is that much of the free content you enjoy is thanks to the ads that appear in one form or another. It isn't easy for all sites, particularly smaller ones to have a wide range of perfectly tailored ads that you won't find bothersome. 

 

I find it easy to ignore ads, and I rarely find them useful. But I accept them in exchange for great sites like Vibrant Victoria.

[Mike K.]

That is my whole point - users don't have to ignore them. They can block them. If websites only had tasteful ads, I think far less would block ads. VV does well compared to most, only having one changing ad from adsense, the rest are static and relevant, such as Marko's ad.

 

And we can block users who block ads. There's two sides to this.

 

Those dating ads represent less than 1% of the total advertisement inventory served. If you're browsing VV quite a bit and if by some point in the day those ads start to appear then that's a good indicator the tailored ads have been depleted for that visitor for that day. It's just how the system works.

 

Nobody complains that 75% of newspaper content is pure advertising.

[Nparker]

...Nobody complains that 75% of newspaper content is pure advertising.

Actually, that is one of the main reasons why I almost never look at a newspaper.

[lanforod]

Actually, that is one of the main reasons why I almost never look at a newspaper.

Me too. I'll go look specifically at flyers these days, and nothing else, not even the front page. I wish I could stop delivery of everything except specific flyers.