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THE AD INDUSTRY has to shoulder some of the blame for the escalating arms race between ad blockers and online advertisers, according to one leading industry figure.
AdRoll co-founder and president Adam Berke said the ad sector had “done a bit of a poor job” explaining to users how it helped pay for all the free content people expected to get online.
“There has been this implicit agreement between internet users, which we all are, and advertisers that says OK, I’m going to get these products for free,” he told TheJournal.ie.
I’m going to be able to read your article for free, I’m going to be able to listen to music for free, I’m going to be able to watch this video for free – everything I want, I want it for free, but there’s going to be advertising.”
According to figures from Dublin-based anti-adblock company PageFair, an estimated 18% of internet users in Ireland now use software to block internet ads, which many complain blight their favourite sites or make pages slow and unresponsive.
The Washington Post this week took the drastic measure of shutting out readers using ad-blocking software, citing its need for digital ad revenue to pay for the people who accessed its journalism free online.
“When you use an adblocker, you are actively hurting the content creators that you love,” Berke said.
I think some companies like the Washington Post saying ‘hey, we rely on advertising to provide you with this content, please (exempt our site) on your adblocker or turn it off maybe’ is the right kind of dialogue to get out of the arms race.”
Retargeting
Berke’s views aren’t a big surprise, of course, given his company’s bread and butter is selling advertisers tools to make their digital campaigns more effective.
He was in Dublin late this week where his rapidly-growing company, the most-popular platform for digital ad “retargeting”, employs around 100 staff, its second-biggest office worldwide after its San Francisco headquarters.
Last year AdRoll raised $70 million (€62 million) in one funding round as it reported an annual revenue rate of $150 million (€132 million), still a tiny fraction of the $135 billion (€119 billion) it was estimated companies spent on internet ads in 2014.
Online advertising has quickly evolved from essentially the same as the print equivalent – images on a page – to something bought, sold and manipulated in real time based on anything from the time of day to users’ locations.
Retargeting takes that process one step further, crunching unique user data – from desktop browser cookies to other anonymous identifiers on Apple and Android devices – and using it to funnel digital ads towards individual users.
Visitors to a site, for example a bike shop, can be targeted with future ads for similar products once they leave the site in a bid to convert them to customers.
A browser looking at bike accessories could even be bombarded with different ads to a road-bike shopper.
Berke said it would only be a matter of time before all advertising went down a similar route to online ads and became programmable – even hold-outs like the TV industry, which still sold slots on a show-by-show, network-by-network basis.
People will do the jobs of creating strategies and targeting and creative and things of that nature, and then we will use technology to do the stuff that humans aren’t very good at like make millions or billions of real-time bidding decisions and optimisation decisions,” he said.
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They really don’t understand do they
He should be removed from his position, and put in prison for incitement to murder. Distancing themselves is simply not good enough.
Probably because they actually agree with him but don’t want to admit it publicly.
Exactly Sean, a govt minister in one of the worlds most populous countries puts a contract to kill on somebody’s head and he’s not even removed from his post?!?
Unbelievable. So the minister says its OK to murder. Come on Paskistan. Arrest him!
They locked up Afridi the man who helped the US capture Bin Laden. Most Pakistanis love the minister’s comments and so do the other politicans who are “distancing” themselves for politican reasons/US Aid. If the film-maker lived in Pakistan he would have been executed by Pakistani Blashpemy Laws.
The Americans Give $1.6billion annually to Egypt, not sure how much they give to Pakistan but they did cut their aid by a few hundred million dollars after the imprisonment of the doctor, it was the Americans way of protesting at his arrest and imprisonment. It was also obvious to all that certain elements in Pakistani intelligence were aiding Al Qaeda and Bin Laden and hiding him under their noses.
You have to wonder at the hypocrisy, this Egyptian Copt living in America makes a poor quality film about Muslims which tells of their violent nature.
Muslims around the world then protest about the film – violently, killing many people and causing enormous damage, saying that their’s is a religon of peace and tolerance. This is topped off by a government minister in Pakistan calling for his “brothers” in the Taliban and Al Qaeda to help and kill the maker of the film, he’d put up a reward of $100,000 for the “noble deed”. Not one of the other Pakistani ministers objected to this, they just looked on solemnly.
What did we learn from this? The White House, Obama and other politicians will be quick to condem anything that criticises Islam, but anything that takes the mick out of Christianity and not a word from them. Just look at what that auld wan did to that fresco of Christ in Spain, and she wants paying now. Not a word.
Then we learn that Pakistani government ministers are bestest buddies with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and none of their own government even raises an eyebrow. Who knew?
Pakistan has regularly been not far off from a failed state. Yet the US had no problem funding and allowing the Pakistanis to develop their nuclear weapons programme. The US also turned a blind eye when Pakistan sold their nuclear expertise to North Korea for profit.
Why is the US concerned re Iranian nuclear programme? Nothing to do with oil or thwarting Chinese influence in region.
Have you a source to the assertion that the USA funded the Pakistani nuclear program? I’m under the impression that it was the Saudis who bankrolled it and the US were as surprised as everyone else when Pakistan officially became a nuclear power.
Barry, the US were far from surprised. They knew what Pakistan was up at every step of their nuclear programme. Look up the book ‘Deception – Pakistan, The United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy’ by Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott Clark. A really researched, detailed fantastic read on this whole issue. The US has a lot to answer for.
I’ll have a look at that, thanks.
Pakistan will waffle on about religious and regional sensibilities blah blah blah. They will do nothing because they are an Islamic theocracy .
This some what gives an explanation to how Osama bin laden could hide in Pakistan for years.
And why the Americans never told the Pakistani officials what their Bin Laden plans were.
American arrogance, most people thought. It looks like the Americans know a lot more than what most anti yank and conspiracists think. I’m not saying they were right or wrong “to go in” as they did, who am I to make that call, but Bin Laden had declared war on that country and the Americans really do not have any friends in that part of the world. It looks like they are on their own. It could be scarier if the republicans were in power.
It looks like, to me, they did the only thing they could.
When you see things like this, our government aren’t all bad…
They’re still not great though…
Surely the only way to distance themselves is by removing him from office? I wonder how Obama will feel if the film-maker is killed. As president he should be protecting his citizens right to free speech not denouncing it.
This maniac can’t run the Railways in Pakistan and the rail sustem is closer to extintion by the day that passes under his leadership. He is offering $100000 ( out of the American doled money ) to the would-be assasin . It is a sad story of Pakistan today.
Reminds me of that wise old proverb, goes something like “Hey Pakistan* Does your granny have a fan** ?? Does it Sm……… ?”
Personally I taught the guy should have got an Oscar . Bravo bravo .
What is the fascination with Bin Laden? Who cares.
You would have to be a complete dimwit to even consider the idea that he was somehow involved in 9/11.
“You would have to be a complete dimwit to even consider the idea that he was somehow involved in 9/11.”
I guess the overwhelming majority of Irish and American people are “dimwits” by your expert standards. Great another “one world order” “conspiracy theory” genius. That’s weird Palestinian Americans were cheering on the day of the attacks in Jersey City shouting “death to America” and partying. I bet all the attacks by Radical-Muslims in Germany, UK, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, France, etc. after 9/11 were also part of a conspiracy. Not to mention the failed plot in Ireland, against the Israeli Embassy in Dublin. Which could have killed hundreds of Irish also, since the Israeli Embassy shares their building with Irish Companies, by passers on the street, and neighboring buildings?
The same guy who talks about “Syrian Rebels” also believes that 9/11 was an entirely inside job.
Who knew?
are you mates with jim corr?
An anonymous seagull poster.
Fly in, drop a load of shite and then scuttle off.
I never really pay attention to these anonymous seagulls – errrrr except in this case.
Move on!
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