DISQUS

Jesse J. Anderson · 1 year ago

Part of the problem is the user annoyance rate is much higher on the web. On a newspaper I can quickly and easily see what is content and what is an ad, and scan from one to other in an instant... but on the web there isn't always an obvious font/color combination that indicates "this is the real content" and even worse, I may have to scroll to find it, depending on the ad placement. There is much more 'thinking' involved with determining what the content is on the web which makes it very easy to get annoyed when it's not easy (because ads are in the way).

Also what you are talking about would require a very one-on-one relationship which doesn't happen very often. From the advertiser's position it isn't worth it to talk individually with a publisher on how and where to design and place your ad unless they get a large amount of traffic - it's much easier (and cheaper) to design a few ads in different dimensions and send those to all the publishers. If you do find a publisher with enough traffic to justify an individual ad and placement, most likely that publisher (with all that traffic) has too many advertisers and will prefer the plug'n'play "set an ad placement and let it run with different advertisers" approach which is fast, cheap and easy.

kevinurie · 1 year ago

Good comments Jesse. I see your point on the design cost, and annoyance factor. I think the key is to find that fine line, between annoyance and effective. Something I am sure will be done with some trial and error over the years of testing.

No matter what publishers say, they need to start working more closely with advertisers. I have heard from at least three sites in the last month that have a lot of traffic, but have very little revenue. They are tired of dealing with networks and Google for revenue, becuase there is little of it. These three called myself, or my agency for help, and that's not even what we do.

If they could take some time and work with their ad partners I think it would be better for everyone. TV, Radio, and Newspapers have great relationships with agencies and constantly work together. I do not see why online publishers can't do the same. Obviously by doing this we as advertisers are going to need to put more time is as well in design.

Hopefully their will be standards to all of this, to make it easier to implement. We just need to make sure they are not the limited ones like we have today.