[opendtv] Re: The Fake Traffic Schemes That Are Rotting the Internet - Bloomberg Business
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:48:28 -0400
On Sep 25, 2015, at 9:23 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Heh. This is something I've been trying to get across to Craig for years and
years. Ads that go in sync with a TV program are far less ignorable than ads
left and right on a web page, and certainly less irritating than pop-up ads
that block your view. Did he listen?
To you?
Obviously TV ads work, although the major reason for the high percentage of TV
shows viewed time shifted with a DVR is to avoid them.
It is also the major reason live linear TV will survive - advertisers know they
work.
But again, repeating from years ago, ads aired with TV streams don't need to
be completely untargeted. Because each TV show is aimed at a specific
demographic. So that "carpet bombing" comment is exaggerated. TV ads continue
to work best, IMO. Including for online TV. And we've seen that online TV ads
are actually better retained than those on broadcast TV, most likely because
there are just way too many ads on broadcast TV. Remember my mention of the
Laffer curve, applied to ad effectiveness? Years ago.
Well reasoned...
The point is that advertising is changing because of the Internet...
Not always for the good.
It is also very important to understand that people are willing to pay to avoid
ads - Netflix, Amazon Prime, the new ad free version of Hulu, iTunes
downloads...
Of course, block all ads, and this will happen. But ad blockers don't block
most Internet ads, and they certainly don't block ads that come with Internet
TV. The incentive to create ad blockers is directly proportional to the
obnoxious nature of the ads. It's a simple matter of excessive greed being
counter-productive. Why should that be a difficult concept?
Spy versus Spy.
We are learning and evolving. And creating many new kinds of fraud.
If "bots" can easily distort the reality of who sees Internet
ads, are bots responsible for a significant portion of the
average daily consumption of TV via the Internet, or the big
screen in the family room?
If you keep ad breaks short, like around the 120 seconds or so you experience
now on OTT sites, and you avoid playing idiotic games that cause the ads to
screw up, freeze, and force the viewer to refresh the damned page, then you
have a good chance that those ads are being seen.
That has nothing to do with my statement. I agree that keeping ad loads
reasonable is very important.
What you missed is that it is now possible to use bots and other software scams
to distort measurement systems and statistical sampling. Nielsen ratings have
always been suspect because of the sampling methods. People lied when filling
out diaries, and the new people meters only measure what channel the TV is
tuned to when it is on, whether someone is watching or not.
As the story I posted documented, bots are being used to "create" audiences for
Internet sites that feature video. They could also be used to improve the
ratings at free OTT sites, or to create stats that half of all TV programs are
viewed via the Internet.
Not saying this is happening, but it is worth consideration.
Regards
Craig
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