Did you see that?

[Guest CharliePS]

Last night I read a long eye-opening article in last Sunday's NY TImes business section (yes, it takes me a week to finish the Sunday paper). It was about the whole business of producing and placing video ads on websites, and the billions of dollars involved in this activity; marketers are beginning to wonder if they are getting their money's worth. The theory is that the ads for products and services are targeted at the best potential customers, but the advertisers not only don't know whether they are reaching those customers, they are not even sure if the ads are being seen by anyone. Apparently, viewers of the sites purposely ignore the ads, or don't even notice they are there. Ads that need to be clicked on to run may never get any clicks, and the company paying for the ad often never learns that fact, The whole process of moving the ad from the producer to the website is so complicated that a whole new third party business--profitable, of course--has opened up for companies that tell the advertiser where their ads are actually showing and how many viewers are responding.

The article made me think about my own behavior. I am a first class ignorer. I occasionally notice that an ad is there; e.g., I have become aware that whenever I open an article on Yahoo about cars, a Honda ad appears on the right side of the page, probably because when I was researching for a new car two years ago, I looked at info about Hondas. But most of the time I am not even aware of the ads on the sites I visit regularly, including this one. The only time I can remember ever clicking on an ad, to open it, was when I was looking for a new computer, and my google search immediately brought up ads for Dell, HP, etc., on the screen next to the technical info I was looking for. For the most part, however, all that money spent on website advertising is wasted trying to sell anything to me. If the advertisers really are paying for nothing, and they realize it, the whole business model for the Internet may have to change.

I am wondering: how often do you pay attention to the ads on the sites you visit, and how frequently do you click on them?

[caeron]

Pretty much never.

Certainly never any of the generic ones (beer, cars, etc.). I'm a computer gamer, so very rarely I will click an ad for a game on a gaming site to learn more about it. That said, I don't think I've ever spent a penny on anything I've clicked either.

I actually do some of this from the other side too. And I've found that getting responses from online ads is exceptionally difficult...

[Guest EXPAT]

The only effective ads for me are the ones that now show up in your twitter feed or on your Newsfeed on Facebook. You get immediate exposure to them because you initially think it is a post from some one you know or a group or business that you have "liked" in the past. Those I think are very effective. Others not so much.

[RA1]

I knew there was a good reason that I am not on Facebook or Twitter. However, I get a tremendous amount of email advertising something or other. Just like on various sites that I choose to be on, I have learned how to ignore those also.

However, I do buy a lot of stuff on line but, almost exclusively, it is from solicited (by me) information or previous exposure.

Regardless of some annoyance with ads, I hate to think about paying more for internet access.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest PasadenaCA]

They're an annoyance.

[Guest Paragon]

Charlie, I did see that article and I read it in its entirety as it was quite interesting. I hate to have to see a commercial in order to watch a news video. And I especially hate the auto-start videos. Usually I have my sound muted, but when is not, the start of the video can be quite a surprise.