Making Advertising A Pleasant Part of the Online Experience
Advertisers have always fought a battle for attention, but recent events have shone a spotlight on a new enemy in this battle: ad blockers. Though ad blockers have existed for almost as long as the Internet has monetized web space, Apple’s affinity for ad-blocking software in its latest iOS release has created a new round of debate. However you side, what should become apparent is that advertisers need to do better to justify their place on the web.
No Peace, No Ads Blocked
The debate on ad blocking ramped up within the past few days as one of Apple’s most popular ad blocking apps, Peace, was pulled by creator Marco Arment. Arment’s reasoning for pulling Peace was that he had suffered a crisis of conscience. Arment realized the damage his ad blocking software would cause within an industry that relies solely on advertising revenue for its existence.
A Model of Aggravation
When content is your product, advertising is basically your sole source of revenue. Unlike, say the auto industry, where selling better, more expensive cars leads directly to profits, content creators have very few streams of revenue outside of possibly selling subscriptions. Put simply, your favorite TV show wouldn’t exist if advertisers didn’t fill commercial time. Buzzfeed wouldn’t bring you zany lists if it couldn’t sell sponsored listicles. You couldn’t waste an entire day on YouTube without the pre-roll that is the bane of your existence.
Advertising is the tradeoff you agree to in exchange for free content. And it’s basically the only way your favorite sites and content creators are allowed to keep operating. But if this tradeoff is (mostly) acknowledged as a necessary “evil”, why did Peace climb to the number one app in the App Store?
Because, in my oh-so-humble opinion, advertisers have brought this upon themselves in three key ways. To regain the trust of consumers, marketers and brands should look to correct these issues.
Delivering Unwanted Content
The pre-roll ad, the page takeover, the popup ad. Not only are these ads I wasn’t necessarily in the market for, they are directly impeding my ability to enjoy whatever content I was in the market for. Now in some cases, YouTube especially, this is impossible to work around. If you want to watch a video on YouTube, any video, for free, viewing pre-roll is the price of admission. I get that and I’m OK with it. But for sites that have the ability to provide banner ads that aren’t obtrusive, stick with the standard banners and let your visitors decide what they want to interact with.
Contextually Inaccurate
Advertorials are generally a good way to provide contextually relevant ads, and more brands would be wise to find ways to incorporate them into digital experiences. Native advertising is one avenue for this. Sponsored posts and content are also a good way to deliver something of value to viewers. Whatever you choose to do, aim as best you can to make your advertising fit within the context of where it’s living. The plus to this is that native advertising is often harder to block or hide, meaning ad blockers might not be able to block this content.
Be Great
Look, I know this is an easy thing to say, nearly impossible thing to pull off, but this is our industry and this is what we do. If you want someone to pay attention to your advertising, give them a reason to. Don’t expect people to view your ad just because it’s in front of them. If you decide to splurge and do a homepage takeover, make it a fun experience. Don’t equate large or expensive with good. In fact, the larger your ads, the better they should be. A prominent ad that’s poorly done has far less margin for error than a traditional medium-rec banner that’s below the fold.
Ad blockers are here and they most likely aren’t going away. The best that we in the industry can do is make advertising a pleasant part of the online experience. Funny, informative, helpful, whatever brand or product you’re pitching, make sure you’re offering the viewer something in return for their attention. Remember, people don’t block things they enjoy. Do some soul searching. Point the finger at yourself. Ask what you can be doing better. To make ad blockers a thing of the past, we’re going to have to do better in the future.