this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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Once upon a time Google used few and non-intrusive ads. The ads were soo well-placed and relevant, that they almost seemed like a service to the user, rather than being forced upon you. Some of us even added exceptions for Google ads in our ad blockers, so we would not miss out.
I miss those days.
That was almost a decade ago or even before. I remember adockers recommending white listing search engines or recommending to disable non-instrusive ads to support websites.
There are some ads that I'm fine with, but they have to be clearly an ad, and related to the content on the site, not based on my previous interactions, nor using tricks to disguise ads as part of the content.
On documentation pages: sure just have a thing related to CS courses, on pirating and streaming sites advertise VPNs, on horny sites advertise horny stuff, and casinos and sports advertise gambling and sports betting. But DON'T make the ad look like a section in the documentation, like another download button, like another horny video on the site, like another casino game or segment of the sports analysis. If I want to explore the ad I will, stop trying to trick me else I will try to block and avoid you entirely! If I figure out that are you spending more effort trying to trick me the less interested I will be in the product you offer.
While the intentions behind this are mostly evil nowadays, there's also the design aspect to be considered.
Imagine a nice, modern and minimal UI, and suddenly some flashy colorful element in the feed. it just hurts a designers feeling.
I forgot where I heard this::: If there are fewer, more relevant ads, Google and YouTube should be able to make more money with fewer ads.
The advertisers though want more ads even though they are less affective. As it forces the cost per ad down.
It is totally backwards…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Then google got greedy and ruined it's own ad service. Imagine google would've stopped at this early point. A single, non flashing banner ad would generate as much as 5 multiple second video ads do now. But ads got used more and more inflationary, to the point where we are now.
Meanwhile these days every time I happen to use Youtube without an adblocker I get the same car insurance ads that I've gotten for the last 4 years.
The ads are so obnoxious and frequent. It just kills it for me.
I know the reply I'm gonna get...
I unblock ads on AVForums. And honestly, the ads are either really well targeted (because I'm probably going to buy that amplifier eventually), or random ebay stuff.
If they started serving up the generic "reduce belly fat in 2 seconds with this simple trick" with some AI generated picture, I'd re-evaluate very quicly.
Then they killed the competition and there was nobody left to stop them doing to you with ads what the farmer does with geese to make foie gras.
I don't know of any day where I unblocked ads and felt good cause they were targeted directly at me