By Carl Weiss
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| Image courtesy of entrepreneurs-journey.com |
Since 2013, the number and variety of animated ads, video ads, pop-up ads and other online annoyances have grown like a cancer to infect most every major purveyor of information and news. It's gotten to the point where it's sometimes hard to read the story you clicked on due to all the machinations occurring above, below and alongside the copy. Just like the four-minute commercial break that we have all come to loathe on TV, the owners and operators of online portals need to be told that enough is enough.
Make it Stop, Daddy!
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| Image courtesy of EConsultancy.com |
If you
listen to pundits such as writers for the "NY Times" who boldly titled a recent
article, “Fall of the Banner Ad: The Monster That Swallowed the Web,” you would
believe that these ads were some kind of prank that was inadvertently unleashed
on an unsuspecting populace. Yet during
the same article the writer points out that banner ads were kind of an
inevitably back in the 1990s.
“There was
really no choice,” said Andrew Anker, who in the mid-1990s was the chief
technology officer of Wired, charged with finding a way to pay for the print
magazine’s entrance online. Mr. Anker knew that subscriptions or other direct
payments for Wired’s content would not work; it was too technically difficult
to accept credit card payments on the nascent web. So advertising became the
only option, and the banner ad was a natural shape to fill early browsers." http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/technology/personaltech/banner-ads-the-monsters-that-swallowed-the-web.html?_r=0
Even worse, once banner ads
became accepted on one site, this scourge soon spread to other sites like some
kind of adman-induced virus. Over time,
some major players such as Yahoo embraced banner ads as one of their main
sources of revenue. Lucky us. The NYT article went on to state:"Even
entrepreneurs who understood the dangers of banners gave in to them. In its
earliest days, 'The Huffington Post' built its own innovative set of tools to run
its site, but Jonah Peretti, one of its founders, said it turned over much of
its ad infrastructure to third-party companies serving banners. Eventually he realized that banners were
hampering how users experienced the site, but it was too late. 'When a site
loads slowly, you blame the site, but it’s actually often the banner ad coming
from somewhere else online,' Mr. Peretti said."
As online
technology improved, you'd think that banner ads would have also. But this has not proven to be the case. Rather than making banner ads and popups less
obtrusive, the past five years have seen them become ever more annoying with
the switch from animated to video ads, which all vie for your attention as you
try to read a blog or newsfeed. Some of
these ads play without volume, allowing users to pause them where others do
not. Some ads cleverly (or should I say
annoyingly?) made the “X” that is used to close one ad spawn an entirely
different ad. In fact, it's getting so
crowded on many popular sites and portals that it's nearly impossible to read
the information you came there to peruse in the first place. You'd think advertisers and portal
owners would realize that the last way to increase customer loyalty would be to
annoy customers. But like the admen on
Mad Men, apparently ad executives don’t think like the rest of us.
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| Image provided by thestrategyweb.com |
So just as
the fictional TV news anchor Howard Beale leaned out of the window in the
motion picture "Network" to shout these unmistakable words, “I’m mad as hell and
I’m not going to take it anymore!” we Internet users should take heart by
giving these avaricious admen their what for. Unlike
television where the Tivo started a trend that continues to this day that
allows the public to record shows and then fast forward through the ads
(maniacally laughing while you do so) being optional, the Internet has an
equivalent of the DVR to help you eradicate these online pests.
Google Chrome Users
Google
Chrome offers a free app in its store called Adblock Plus that all but
eliminates annoying ads when you surf the web using the world’s most popular web
browser. Go to the Google Chrome Web
Store at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/apps and enter AdBlock into the dialog
box. This will take you to several free
apps that once installed will allow you to slay the adman dragon.
The
publisher’s description reads as follows:
Adblock for Chrome removes
Facebook ads, Flash animations, and ads from all over the Web on Google Chrome
browser. Chrome is automatically updated with additions to the filter. It
blocks all advertisements on all web pages, even Facebook and YouTube. Your
browser is automatically updated with additions to the filter.
Best of all,
it's also available for a number of other popular browsers, including Firefox,
and my browser of choice, Comodo Dragon.
Backlash from the Board Room
Believe it
or not, the owners of a number of portals were up in arms when AdBlock was
introduced, complaining that this kind of software limited their revenues.
According
to Wikipedia: "While some websites such as The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph have successfully implemented subscription
and membership based paywall systems for revenue, [28] many websites today rely on third party
hosted online advertising to function. In 2007, web developer Danny Carlton
described the use of ad blockers as tantamount to theft, [29] and called for other site owners to block
the Firefox web browser from their websites to deter
its use. [30]
"On
December 5, 2011, Wladimir Palant announced that certain "acceptable"
ads would be whitelisted in upcoming builds of the Adblock software, with the
option to remove whitelisted ads via a custom setting in the software.
According to Palant, only static advertisements with a maximum of one script
will be permitted as "acceptable", with a preference towards
text-only content. The announcement created some controversy both at Adblock's
website and at social media sites like Reddit. [31]"
Even should the powers that
be find a way to litigate products like Adblock out of existence, there are
still other means of reducing the proliferation of online ads. Some browsers come equipped with the ability
to control, at least in part, the amount of ads that appear online. Even mobile apps are available that help you
winnow the rising tide of unwanted advertisement from your smartphones and
tablets. The bottom line is that where
there is a need, someone is sure to fill it.
While the legal wrangling continues,
all I can say is that in the back of my mind, I can hear Howard Beale laughing
to beat the band.
If you found this article useful share it with friends and co-workers. If you would like to read more article like this type "banner ad" or "Pop ups" in the search box at the top of this page.
While the legal wrangling continues,
all I can say is that in the back of my mind, I can hear Howard Beale laughing
to beat the band. If you found this article useful share it with friends and co-workers. If you would like to read more article like this type "banner ad" or "Pop ups" in the search box at the top of this page.
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