Written by: Matt Dehart
Ads are one of the most important parts of websites. You might say that many get annoying, appearing before videos, or taking space on the page. But these advertisements are necessary for the content on the internet. People want things free, and ads are the only way to keep a site free. Things are a lot more complicated though. In simple terms, a business gives money to a publisher when they show an ad for the business. Without earning money, a publisher would shut down with the opportunity cost of getting a job is lower than the hours spent for no income. Most revenue from ads is based on clicks, meaning the payout is based on how much business the advertiser receives from the ad. It gets much deeper though. A company will choose which sites to advertise for based on the audience. They have to compare the possible profit from sponsoring one website compared to another. A publisher had to think of many different factors while placing ads on their site. They have to use a lot of marginal analysis to estimate ad amount and placement. They have to decide if they think another ad will increase either viewers and or clicks on the advertisement, and not use an amount that will give less than before. Over the years tools have been developed to help an advertiser with placing ads. One such example is Google Adsense, which will use content on the website to place ads that will make more revenue. So before you just look away with the next advertisement, think about how much work and economic analysis was used to bring the ad to you.
Works Cited
Bishop, Tyler. “How Internet Ads Work & How Sites Make Money Using Them.” Ezoic Blog, 13 Mar. 2018, blog.ezoic.com/how-internet-ads-work-how-to-make-money-using-them/.
Suggett, Paul. “Start Making Money Today with Google Ads.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business, www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-make-money-with-google-ads-39108.
The problem that many websites must combat are web browser extensions that block advertisements from showing up for the user, such as AdBlock, and uBlock Origin, all of which are gaining popularity. If these websites really want to send a message to users that advertisements are indeed indispensable to their success, they must more widely block users that use such extensions, or begin to run subscription services. Either way, this is a messy situation for websites that rely heavily on ad revenue.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if advertisements even work anymore. It's incredible how many ads that we see that we jut view as wallpaper, we don't even really look at them as anything other than a nuisance. Because of this I'm sure we will see a shift in the way advertisers craft their ads, so that they are viewed the way they are intended, rather than as an obstacle of having fun.
ReplyDeleteI think that as technology advances, analytics have as well and we have developed better ways to use our money as a society. Advertising is clearly no different. While advertising may not make up a large part of GDP, this is clearly the type of technology advancement that pushes potential output further to the right, as it allows resources to be better allocated.
ReplyDeleteI believe that ads are not as influential as business think they are. In this day and age there are so many ads that people get sick of seeing them that they are almost immune to blocking them out. Maybe advertisers just need to find a new way to advertise but billboards, commercials and flyers are getting old. The businesses are wasting their money spending it on ads that aren't even that effective. As technology advances, I believe that the way businesses advertise can defiantly be more enhanced.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your belief that ads are not as influential as business think they are of maybe as they once were. Personally, I see 20+ ads thorough social media on a daily basis. While I see many ads, I rarely ever click on them. On almost every occasion, I skip over the ads as the become very repetitive and annoying. It would be interesting to see the ROI of each company for ads. Then and only then could you determine whether advertisements are beneficial for a business or not.
DeleteLike many others, I am frequently annoyed by ads that distract me from reading a website or watching a video, and am quick to leave a page that is filled with ads. We live in an era of information overload and short attention spans; thus, ads need to be improved to not distract people, while at the same they must attract consumers, or else their effectiveness will continue to decline.
ReplyDeleteI am not the biggest fan of ads. But no one really is. I think that it is great for most websites and people who are trying to make money and ads are doing the trick. I can't lie, seeing an ad made me click or think about buying something that was on it. So yes ads are annoying but they benefit other companies and create revenue for the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many ads on website are not beneficial to both the publisher and the business. Many people are very quick to leave a page with an ad on it hurting both the publisher of the information, and the business which has only spent money on advertising but not brought in new customers.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me how much work does go into placing the ads on these sites. Companies such as Google Adsense are able to collect data from the other sites we visit, and base the ads off of that. This is a great tactic for companies to promote their product, as they can then tailor their ads to attract the type of consumers they would like for their business
ReplyDeleteI do agree that consumers don’t think that advertisements are very important to the business world. By having ads it’s an easy way to receive revenue quickly, especially if there’s a really buggy website where ads will constantly pop up no matter where you click on the website. Another great way for companies to gain more revenue is through mobile applications; especially games. If there’s a rare currency in a game, a list of rewards are shown to make you watch more ads just to receive the game currency awards. A consumer is more willing to watch ads when there is an award after watching the ads.
ReplyDeleteMatt: Internet ads provide a lot of good even though they are heavily annoying. Many people think that they are useless and just a waste of time but they actually do provide some good and allows their country to get their product out to the public. Popular games also get a lot of revenue and big websites also because they are getting paid a lot to put the ad out on their site for everyone that goes on their site to see in hopes that they will click on it and go buy the product. We look at big games they make you look at ads when you are just trying to enjoy a game but I have even went and downloaded a game while an ad popped up because the game on the ad looked like it would be fun.
ReplyDeleteThat makes a lot of sense as to why websites are free nowadays. There are ads everywhere and you see them all the time which means someone is always making money. What gets me though is the effects outside of helping websites the ads have. With technology advancing everyone knows that ads are now targeted towards certain people. So when you see an ad that actually may interest you what are the odds someone makes a purchase off of that ad. If someone does make a purchase, then not only did the ad help keep a website free, it helped a business make a sale and gain profit.
ReplyDeleteAlthough internet advertisements are extremely annoying and often get in the way of getting work done online quickly I think people often underestimate how much money is absorbed by companies from that 30 second advertisement on a video. A lot of money is collected from advertisements by the company who produces them as well as whoever puts them on the videos that they post or the websites they create. The annoyance isn't just there to make you mad but to make money off of you that gets pumped into the economy.
ReplyDeleteOwning a social media marketing company myself I know that a lot of the information in this is pretty accurate. When ads are annoying, generally that means they are not being done completely right. If correctly targeted and properly updated the ads should never be annoying. The idea is that the same ad should never be seen more than 2 or 3 times if that by the same person. If correctly updated based on user history and trial and error a good ad should be exactly what you want to see even though you may not even know that you want it yet. Google paperclick and Facebook Pixel assist with this to make it as efficient and exact as possible. Because social media ads is still a pretty new industry there are a lot of people doing it wrong and that is what we are frequently surrounded by.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is both interesting and somewhat terrifying that companies can now target and personalize internet ads towards consumers based off of data. While they may be economically viable and lucrative for the companies producing them, I personally think that they aren't as useful as they are often made out to be. I think it will be extremely interesting to see how apps evolve and change in their platform and direction towards consumers as technology progresses in the next couple years.
ReplyDeleteI agree that ads are not as influential as business tend to believe. From experience ads more often than not are an annoyance when I'm on social media or just on the internet, and like other people have said, I rarely click on them, so I'm interested to see if business will begin to think like this and in which way they will change their advertisements. Also the graph you put into your Post helps clarify your points and give a visual for the reader. Well Done.
ReplyDeleteI agree that adds are an point to keep websites free because people want things and that money keeps things moving because everything costs money.
ReplyDeleteA big part of internet ads are views coming from users. But a new way of mitigating such views (and revenue) are adblockers, which, for free, can block views for ads that draw in views for users. But it's a new market and a new dynamic, and it shows the growth of the internet as a venue to distribute and consume content.
ReplyDeleteAds are scarce becoming a human endeavor. Bots are quickly taking over the online ad marketing community; taking silent notes about the kinds of people that click on different content, and catering to them in the blink of an eye. These bots are so good at learning the person the account is tied to that you could take one student’s youtube account from this class and compare it to another student and the ads that would be displayed would be entirely different from each other.
ReplyDeleteThis post was really interesting to me because although we are on the internet for hours each day, especially during school, I often just overlook the ads and think they are nothing but annoying. I rarely think about how companies make money off the ads and how much thought it takes companies to place the ads. Many websites use cookies, which see what you search and develop ads based on the websites you’ve visited. I wonder if in the future, ad companies will be put out of business because of the technology that matches ads with frequently visited websites?
ReplyDeleteI agree that some people believe that the ads aren’t important when used on the internet. Sometimes when looking something on the internet and an ad pops up can be annoying because when you’re trying to look something up or finish up a project, the ad can always become a problem. Not only that people want to use the internet for free so in order to “use” the internet for free, companies and business have to sponsor their ads on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that ads are an important part of a website, but is it the most important? No. If you are creating a website you shouldn't have to heavily lean on advertisements to make it better. You have to look at it not from just the economical view point but also from the consumers standpoint. Nobody likes a website that has a million ads one, because it's just annoying and it can make it look like an unreliable source. Secondly it shows people that it is failing and showing you need to keep getting more money for the website to run. Instead of relying on these businesses maybe a better strategy would be to re-think or edit the website itself, weather that be changing the format to look more appealing or adding more services.
ReplyDelete- Noah Schlaikowski
I agree that advertisement on the internet are needed. Although they can be annoying, they help give writers and content creators a source of revenue which is what they have for a job. Also, when people show interest in the ad, it is possible money that can be made from the internet user. Ads can be annoying, however they are a small issue that gives people a job and companies an opportunity to get their name out there.
ReplyDeleteThe economics of the piece is the more generated attention the ads receive the more income the company advertising it makes. Advertising is a positive in everyone’s eyes as we increase the overall income of economic economy partially based off of internet sales and yes, pop-up ads contribute to that. On the other hand, I feel like you are partially right and partially not because the company that is being advertised, one shouldn’t have to waste just pop-up ad endorsements to become famous. They should be generating their own ideas about advertising one that isn’t pop-up ads.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you started off by talking about how no one likes ads, then you go on to say that we also like everything to be free, so we have to make a trade-off by seeing a few ads and not spending money on using a website. I can't even imagine what it would be like to go to a website and having to pay to use it, every single time I go there. I also think that it's interesting to see that when people show interest in an ad, it shows them more like that to get them to click on it even more.
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