31 Jan 09 Annoying ads: do they work?
As newspapers struggle with the traumatic transition from print to online media, the means by which they monetize their publications continues to be a pressing issue. (please forgive the pun). An increasing number of readers are reluctant to spend a few dollars on a conventional newspaper when the same content is available online at no cost, and news print sales have steadily decreased. Some newspapers attempt to deal with this problem by offering content in print that is not available online, but this is only goes a small distance in solving the problem; such content is simply not generally considered worthwhile enough. The top stories and columns demand the most attention and satisfy the information needs of many. The main strategy for monetizing online publications is of course advertising, but how successful are the commonly used advertising strategies?
It has become standard practice to include ads that appear as an article loads, often completely obscuring the article itself. Advertising like this is counter intuitive. The obvious response to ads like this is to close it as soon as possible and get back to the selected article. It has long been held that annoying advertising has an effect because its very nature makes it stick in the mind. This fails to take into account the fact that many potential customers will avoid products that are promoted by ads that annoy on principal. The same applies to annoying television and radio commercials; while they might influence some on a subliminal level they drive away a great many in droves.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with including advertising on web pages. Advertising has supported the ‘traditional’ media virtually since it’s inception. Many services simply would not exist without advertising revenue. However, pushing ads that are intrusive and annoying are little more than an insult to the average consumer’s intelligence. Why not provide discreet advertising in online publications that offer links to products and services that people might actually be interested in?
Tags: annoying ads, monetize publications, online newspapers, successful advertising
That kind of advertising really bugs me. You are right, it probably has a negative effect on the advertiser as well as the publication it appears on. I know conventional wisdom says any publicity is good publicity but that isn’t always true. Annoying ads might stick in the mind, but that isn’t enough to increase sales and does lead to negative associations for certain brands. I think this is even more the case with something as intrusive as a huge block which obscures whatever you are trying to read. We tend to block out tv advertising, but there is no way to ignore something that is directly in front of you, you either have to deal with it, or click back and not read the page.
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trying to survive on the net is something that common bloggers (just like me) have to face time to time, but publishers? I think they should have enough financial resources to back them up, instead of compromising their readers’ convenience with fund-driven ads (especially those who behave annoyingly)
I always thinking, if they keep on annoying their readers, there will be a time where the readers ended up with ad-block software installed on their browser…
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