Why online advertising is (mostly) a waste of money...

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...So we're listening to a podcast and an advert comes on - each show will have its own cadence, and you'll know roughly how long the ad spot is. If you're looking at your smart device then you'll tap the '+30s' button the right number of times, if you're out walking or similar then you'll ask your voice assistant to 'Fast forward 3 minutes', as appropriate.

...So you're watching YouTube and the pre-roll ads start up, you watch that 'skip' or 'next' button eagerly, either once or twice, and then you're into your video.

...So you're browsing the web and come across a page with content you want to read. If you're smart then you've got an ad-blocker installed, if you're not then you're still only concentrating on the content you wanted.

...So you're watching Netflix or Amazon Prime or (heaven forbid) Now TV and a batch of ads come on before your show: 'Programme resume in 1 min 18s' or whatever. "Great", you think, "I have 1 minute 18s to do something else like put the kettle on or nip to the loo".

In every single case, you're either missing the ads completely, or just catching the start. OK, so you're sometimes tangentially aware of what's being pushed, but you're certainly not getting remotely close to paying attention to the expensive commercial that some company has put together and then paid for ad space for.


So what is the point? How can it possibly be worth companies paying for time online like this? Not only do I not listen to/watch adverts where at all possible, if an ad does get forced on me then it's usually a mental stimulus to get annoyed at that company and to not buy their product. And I don't think this is just me.

Staying within my video/podcast wheelhouse, can adverts ever work, then? I think, yes, if they're very short and preferably weaved in by the podcast/video host. For example, 'XYZ's new product, the ABC has been launched and is relevant to a podcast or video that I'm hosting. On 'air', I'd say something like:

"This show is brought to you by XYZ and their exciting new ABC thingummy, thanks to them", along with an on-screen URL and/or included in the show notes. The entire 'ad' would be inline with the main content and would take less than 10 seconds - way to short for anyone to be able to (or want to) skip, yet there's actually more chance that the content would be noted by the listener/viewer.

Anything more than this system is just skipped. Or blocked. Or ignored, I contend.

Comments welcome. 

Comments

Steve Forbes said…
But surely they have metrics that prove to them that it's worth their money?
9:10 AM
Steve Litchfield said…
To Steve Forbes: you'd hope so. Though in some cases I suspect they're just striking out and hoping for the best - and then either succeeding or going bust the following year. I've seen both scenarios played out over the last two decades.
10:07 AM
Mark said…
You might not think it's worked, but you're thinking about it, so maybe it worked.
I agree very few people are going to spontaneously click an ad, or immediately buy whatever product is being advertised, but in the back of your mind, when you do require say insurance or want to sell your car, you can't help but think of meerkats, or someone that would buy any car.
It's not pretty, but it does work unfortunately
12:26 AM
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