[kictanet] To Block or to curse? Ad Blocks and the future of Online Marketing

Mon Feb 22 05:16:16 EAT 2016

Happy New Week!

This is a great article, thank you for sharing - painting the situation, challenge, some solutions tested, working, failed and expressing interests of consumers, lobbies and service providers. 

It reflects the position of the wider entertainment and communication industry - looping in TV, Radio.

The hue and cry for digital TV shift in Kenya had a lot to do with revenue loss while on the other hand opening for tracking of viewers consumpiton.

Consumers are normally engrossed in accessing their service while not aware or interested in the behind the scenes dynamics.

Ads play for majority of the consumers without a choice and there is an indirect bill for consumers to pay in the form of data bundles, electricity/power and time. This expense is not shared with the service provider posting the Ad that uses up the extra milisecond when you access the site. Perhaps it is the cost for accessing the service "for free".

The not so mentioned yet critical aspect is the tracking without express permission or awareness of consumers, which I believe gives lobbies an even greater voice in this debate. High chances there may be some elements mentioned in the service providers terms and conditions to give legal backing.

We may also cite the growing digital entrenchment in the retail industry with the loyalty cards which are used actively to track purchases to inform the stocking needs and overall consumer habits. This gives a lot of data that the retail players have as a revenue stream by sharing the data with research firms and their suppliers. Is the consumer actively conscious of all this - not really. 

This cuts across industries with electronic services - banks, libraries.

To massage the situation, revenue share may be what we see more of - whereby service providers pay consumers for visiting their sites and viewing the Ads and allowing themselves to be tracked too. Or on the other hand, consumers pay for Adfree options. Techie Adblockers have a big business opportunity here too. Marketers have the opportunity to be persuasive yet ethical in their communique since this is business.

This is truly a BIG business industry "Data" that is being refined.

Have a blessed week

Regards/Wangari

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/the-ad-blocking-wars.html

"".....Moreover, when Apple made ad blockers available in its App Store last fall, they quickly became among the most downloaded apps. And later this year, Microsoft is reportedly going to allow an extension to its Edge browser that supports the most popular blocker, Adblock Plus. Read what you will into the fact that Apple and Microsoft’s business models aren’t overly reliant on advertising, unlike their rivals Google and Facebook.

“By installing ad blockers, consumers are telling us very clearly they don’t want to be tracked across the web,” he said. “That’s going to be uncomfortable for a lot of advertising technology companies out there who have been enjoying what has been the Wild West.”

The advertising industry’s solution thus far has been AdChoices, a program that allows consumers to opt out of some targeted ads. But critics dismiss it as window dressing because it’s confusingly presented, cumbersome to enable and not comprehensive, and does not stop tracking.
While The New York Times is still weighing its options, other web publishers have responded to ad blockers using a variety of tactics. Some, like Forbes, have fought back with technology that blocks the ad blockers. But judging from the experience of the technology news website Ars Technica, blocking the blockers is a futile exercise.
“The temptation is to block these people who honestly aren’t going to respond to ads anyway,” Mr. Fisher said. “I think what everybody should focus on is the educational aspect and give people the option to pay for an ad-free experience.”.
Craig Spiezle, executive director of the Online Trust Alliance, a consumer advocacy group, said something similar could happen with online advertising, where stakeholders agree to observe best practices, including respecting Do Not Track, or D.N.T., which is a preference consumers can activate in their browsers. Right now, D.N.T. is largely ignored by advertisers and websites. Obscuring ads and autoplay audio and video would also likely be prohibited..........""

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Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth".

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On Sun, 21/2/16, Mose Karanja via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

 Subject: [kictanet] To Block or to curse? Ad Blocks and the future of Online	Marketing
 To: wangarikabiru at yahoo.co.uk
 Cc: "Mose Karanja" <mosekaranja at gmail.com>
 Date: Sunday, 21 February, 2016, 21:10

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/the-ad-blocking-wars.html
 YOU might have noticed that even when
 using a lightning-fast Internet connection, it takes a few
 beats, enough time to drum your fingers, for web pages to
 load. It’s likely because of online advertising, which
 bogs down your browser, drains your battery and jacks
 up mobile charges — not to mention collects
 private data.So it’s little wonder that the use
 of ad-blocking software grew 41 percent last year, with 198
 million active users worldwide, according to a
 study conducted by Adobe and PageFair. This
 represents an existential threat to the $50 billion online
 advertising industry and has ignited a bitter feud between
 advertisers and developers of ad-blocking apps. On the
 sidelines, privacy advocates are pumping their fists for
 consumer choice while web publishers wring their hands over
 lost revenue.There is a
 lot to be said on ad blocking, content production, privacy
 and the annoying clickbaitism culture. As this topic goes
 mainstream, it would be great to know what viable options
 the parties have: companies paying for online marketing,
 intermediaries, website owners, content producers and the
 most important - the owner of the eyeballs. Ad value is in
 the eyes of the end browser, it seems.
 This sounds to me like a relevant
 research topic for the region. Anyone interested in this can
 reach out to me directly. 

 ---Moses Karanja
 | @Mose_Karanja | PGP: 0x1529552F

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