I am a marketeer. I work as a marketing manager (that is the head of the marketing department) in a big company. And I mean a company that sells real products, to real people. Actually, it is exactly the kind of products people that frequent websites like The Escapist are precisely the target audience for.
Advertising is one of the tools in my trade and I have been doing this job for a bit over a decade.
And yet, I use AdBlock.
This is going to be a long post, so I offer the disclaimer above to justify it and to allow you an inside on my perspective. I totally agree with what Jim Sterling is trying to get across. The Escapist is a product of the work of real people, using real infrastructure, which requires real money to continue to exist. This money primarily comes from advertising, as is usually the case with Media. They should draw revenue from advertising and AdBlock cripples that ability. I also agree that it is the advertisers' fault, for ruining it for everyone (including themselves) and forcing us to seek out services like AdBlock. It is that exact abuse that has led even me, someone who does this for a living and should be keen in observing any form of advertising, to use AdBlock. Because, it isn't really advertising any more. It is spam.
If I may offer a slightly different view, though, it's not just the fault of the advertisers and the "shady" companies they represent, that spam us with F2P online games, penis enlargement products, quick-6pack abs programs or lotteries that notify us we are the Xth visitor and just won an iPhone/iPad/Bugatti Veyron/Whatever. The Escapist (or any other website) is also to blame. What has The Escapist done to prevent this situation, to prevent the circumstances that have led us to install AdBlock on our browsers?
Take an example from other Media. Look at what TV is doing, or even the now-dead print Media. Just like with the internet, advertising in those more "traditional" Media has always been a stock exchange. Price is driven by demand and since air-time or space is finite, the highest bidder gets the advertising spot, or gets the space in page 3, instead of page 53. But, that's not all. They also protect their own product. No matter how much money a "shady" company "selling" a trick method for killer abs with no physical exercise is willing to pay, even if there is no other demand for the space or air-time, they will NEVER be allowed to advertise on prime time. You will NEVER find out you have a chance to win 1 million dollars just by participating on a simple survey through a Super Bowl commercial, or via the back page of The Guardian, or New York Times, or Elle Magazine. The more "traditional" Media have long ago taken action to protect their product and to safeguard the attractiveness of their advertising space, regardless of whether there is constant demand any single given time. For example, someone like Time Magazine would rather have no advertisement at all on page 2 for a given month, even if it has a lucrative offer from a "shady" or simply unimportant product, simply to protect its image and remain attractive for the BMWs and P&Gs of the world, so that they may return next month and buy that space. If they were to advertise "you won an iPhone" on page 2, then the BMWs and P&Gs would soon loose interest in the advertising space altogether.
Which is what is happening to the internet right now. The way it's built, spam almost inevitably get's bumped on top, especially if the ad is not run directly in cooperation with the specific website, but via advertising agencies like Google Ads and the sort. To make things worse, there are still performance issues with ads, frequently bogging down the load speed of a web page, even when it is a "proper" ad, directly served to the specific website. The only reasonable and practical reaction The Escapist and any other online Media outlet can have to tackle the problem of AdBlock is to address the problem at its root and find ways to deny and block the spammers from its website. It needs to better control what gets advertised through their URL, in order to protect its own brand and negate the need for AdBlock. You wouldn't include an ad for Viagra as an imbedded, pre-roll prelude to a Jimquisition, or a Big Picture, or a Zero Punctuation episode. Why do you allow it to sneak into your webpages via Google Ads?
Otherwise, all that is left to advertise are the spammers, since the "proper" companies will lose interest in the Medium and the AdBlock will continue to rise.
P.S. As a response to Sterling's heart felt, honest, justified and properly delivered plea, I for one have just added an exception to AdBlock as far as The Escapist in concerned. However, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this exception for long if it drags down page loading times or if I'm bombarded with spam and smiley faces?
Advertising is one of the tools in my trade and I have been doing this job for a bit over a decade.
And yet, I use AdBlock.
This is going to be a long post, so I offer the disclaimer above to justify it and to allow you an inside on my perspective. I totally agree with what Jim Sterling is trying to get across. The Escapist is a product of the work of real people, using real infrastructure, which requires real money to continue to exist. This money primarily comes from advertising, as is usually the case with Media. They should draw revenue from advertising and AdBlock cripples that ability. I also agree that it is the advertisers' fault, for ruining it for everyone (including themselves) and forcing us to seek out services like AdBlock. It is that exact abuse that has led even me, someone who does this for a living and should be keen in observing any form of advertising, to use AdBlock. Because, it isn't really advertising any more. It is spam.
If I may offer a slightly different view, though, it's not just the fault of the advertisers and the "shady" companies they represent, that spam us with F2P online games, penis enlargement products, quick-6pack abs programs or lotteries that notify us we are the Xth visitor and just won an iPhone/iPad/Bugatti Veyron/Whatever. The Escapist (or any other website) is also to blame. What has The Escapist done to prevent this situation, to prevent the circumstances that have led us to install AdBlock on our browsers?
Take an example from other Media. Look at what TV is doing, or even the now-dead print Media. Just like with the internet, advertising in those more "traditional" Media has always been a stock exchange. Price is driven by demand and since air-time or space is finite, the highest bidder gets the advertising spot, or gets the space in page 3, instead of page 53. But, that's not all. They also protect their own product. No matter how much money a "shady" company "selling" a trick method for killer abs with no physical exercise is willing to pay, even if there is no other demand for the space or air-time, they will NEVER be allowed to advertise on prime time. You will NEVER find out you have a chance to win 1 million dollars just by participating on a simple survey through a Super Bowl commercial, or via the back page of The Guardian, or New York Times, or Elle Magazine. The more "traditional" Media have long ago taken action to protect their product and to safeguard the attractiveness of their advertising space, regardless of whether there is constant demand any single given time. For example, someone like Time Magazine would rather have no advertisement at all on page 2 for a given month, even if it has a lucrative offer from a "shady" or simply unimportant product, simply to protect its image and remain attractive for the BMWs and P&Gs of the world, so that they may return next month and buy that space. If they were to advertise "you won an iPhone" on page 2, then the BMWs and P&Gs would soon loose interest in the advertising space altogether.
Which is what is happening to the internet right now. The way it's built, spam almost inevitably get's bumped on top, especially if the ad is not run directly in cooperation with the specific website, but via advertising agencies like Google Ads and the sort. To make things worse, there are still performance issues with ads, frequently bogging down the load speed of a web page, even when it is a "proper" ad, directly served to the specific website. The only reasonable and practical reaction The Escapist and any other online Media outlet can have to tackle the problem of AdBlock is to address the problem at its root and find ways to deny and block the spammers from its website. It needs to better control what gets advertised through their URL, in order to protect its own brand and negate the need for AdBlock. You wouldn't include an ad for Viagra as an imbedded, pre-roll prelude to a Jimquisition, or a Big Picture, or a Zero Punctuation episode. Why do you allow it to sneak into your webpages via Google Ads?
Otherwise, all that is left to advertise are the spammers, since the "proper" companies will lose interest in the Medium and the AdBlock will continue to rise.
P.S. As a response to Sterling's heart felt, honest, justified and properly delivered plea, I for one have just added an exception to AdBlock as far as The Escapist in concerned. However, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this exception for long if it drags down page loading times or if I'm bombarded with spam and smiley faces?
Thanks Jim and crew.
