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After Web surfers rebel against ever-more annoying pop-up and Flash ads, online advertisers decide to adopt a new, "far less troublesome" format for commercials: streaming video ads, just like on television. For every 20 minutes on the Web, "viewers" will be required to download three minutes of ads. "This is just what the Web needs for the masses to start believing it's more than just a fad," one advertising executive will say. And he'll turn out to be right -- having found the right ad delivery method, Web businesses will once again boom. Ad money will pour into content sites, which will, in turn, decide that interactivity is part of an "old paradigm." The new Web paradigm will be one in which you just sit back and watch the screen: New "shows" will begin at pre-determined times, and will last for standard lengths of 30 and 60 minutes.
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anybody think this author has something here? I can't say I like the idea but as computers and tv start to blend this could happen. But who out there won't just " change the channel" so to speak when the commercials come on?
Looks like the ad agencies are getting more desperate by the moment - and remember they are the best at spin (heck thats their job), holding out banner ads, than tower multi-media ads, and finally pop ups as the salvation of sites. The first was a failure, the second works on only a few sites, and the third needs to be assessed in the wake of previous spins. Why dont they talk about text ads, and the success that sites are having with them including Google? - Because we can do it ourselves without their help thanks very much.
My advice. Forget about the middleman. Sell your own adspace to targeted prospects.
What was that, anyway? Well, looks like I'll just have to use Google for that, too. :)
Seriously - am i going to sit here and watch a commercial? No. There is a good reason I'm on the net, and I haven't turned my TV on in more than 3 weeks.
I hate commercials - however, I like targeted text ads. On any site, not just google.
If I can't find what I want in the content, and they have some ads on the side, in the middle, on the top, bottom, what ever -
and the ads don't pop up, pop under, blink, scream, shout, blurt, sing, dance, or try to dazzle me into clicking -
then I'll look them over and see if I can get what I want. If the ad pops up, loads new browser, etc. - I'm out of there. With a mental note, next time -> try the other site which has more respect for it's audience.
I sometimes prefer to click on a text ad, because I know that they probaly have what I'm looking for if they paid to put it infront of me.
Basically on TV, people are passive receivers. Sure they can change channels, but the options are limited. It favours broad market demographics and quality and delivery is mediocre.
Web browsers are completely different. They are searching or focusing on cetrain topics. They can be much better targeted. They dont need or want the impact-obtrusive approach, and they have a much wider variety of options.
The Web as a medium is closer to newspapers and special interest magazines and print media. But there still are differences. We can click away in an instant, content changes in front of us, and we dont have to walk to the newspaper shop to get another mag if our current one does not provide what we want.
Until advertisers stop thinking TV or multi-media impact, they wont even start to understand how best to sell and reach consumers on the Web. Multi-media flashy ads work on TV because the user needs nil effort to view them. On the web we pay by downloading times. When you are sitting back with a beer doing heaps of other things at a time, it makes sense and works on the idiot box. But when you are on a dedicated web session they only get in the way. "Clicking away" is second nature.
The web offers the best medium yet for targeting potential consumers in the small nooks and crannies of specialist web sites and interest groups. With TV and mainstream newspapers you put up with second best - itr very hard to find programming and artcles that are very focussed on your needs, so we have become used to second best, middle market sanitised offerings. the greatest appeal to the greatest number always results in low quality.
In the Web world, obtrusive broad market advertising is bound to fail. Its only a matter of time - unless the publishing and retail conglomerates can buy it over.
Its amazing to me that an industry which is meant to attract the most creative and highly paid minds worldwide so comprehensively misses the point.
I think the future of advertising is very shaky - web surfers demand subtle intrusions and this industry is anything but subtle. I don't like pop-ups and only occasionally use Adwords. I don't even like people using javascript new window links - I know how to do that myself and when they do it for me it doesn't work!
We have to remember there are a lot of less sophisticated users out there that probably will accept what is dished up to them by AOL, MSNBC etc. How many people do you know that have their home page set to the browser default? Apathy reigns supreme with some ;).
There may be a market for advertising and pay-per-view content to the masses but nowhere as large as it was for TV.
There was once a time when I didn't even have an email account. Now I can't even remember the passwords for all of them :(.
But I think Google has shown us something with their success. Intrusive ads are really frowned upon by a lot of people and their numbers are growing.
Ok time to go check my adword accounts.
Ive been saying it for years - theres a huge gap in knowlegde between techies and marketing people thats only just being filled now.
3 minutes of ads? What were they thinking? Did they do any research into the market at all?
I suspect that they intended a dumbing down browsing technology in order to make it more difficult for people to click out the ad stream. Those who are new to the net would just sit back and accept it.
It would be an immensely difficult thing to impose on the web as well.
Lets pray that this is never forced upon us! :)
JOAT
