The Extra Dimension

The Extra Dimension #11: The Complex World of Ad Blocking

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Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad discuss the complex world of advertising and ad blocking.

Episode Summary
01:10 | Why do ads exist?
  • To keep content free
  • Free is especially important on the web, because sharing stuff on social media is where the majority of traffic comes from; if your site has a paywall, you are missing out on a ton of readers
    • 04:08 | Problems with ads
    • Inverts the customer: The consumer is no longer the customer, and the content is no longer the product; the product is the consumer’s attention, and the advertisers are the customers
    • Ad networks have to gather as much information on a person as possible so they can create targeted ads
    • Resort to obtrusive methods to get the reader’s attention
      • Pop-ups
      • Pop-unders
      • Huge banners
      • Resort to deceitful methods to get clicks
        • “Download now!”
        • “Your computer is at risk!”
        • Ads that are meant to look like part of the page
          • 13:46 | Adblocking
          • Filter out ads before they load
          • Usually a browser extension/app
          • Sometimes present themselves as reading apps (Readability, Pocket)
            • 15:47 | Problems with ad blocking
            • Contributes to a cycle of advertisers trying to find ways to get around it, making more intrusive ads
              • Technological solutions to disguise ads from blockers
              • “Native advertising”
              • Morally ambiguous
                • “Implied contract”
                • Some ad blockers accept money from advertisers to let their ads through
                  • 26:26 | Alternatives
                  • Readability
                    • Users pay a subscription for a product that strips away everything but the content, including formatting
                    • Brave
                      • Removes ads and trackers, replaces them with ads that do not track the user
                      • Revenue from the new ads is shared between Brave, the publisher, and the user
                      • RSS
                        • Most feeds do not include ads
                        • Publishers choose what to put in the feeds, so this doesn’t have moral issues
                          • Links
                          • Ad Blocking and the Future of the Web – Zeldman on Web & Interaction Design
                          • Welcome to hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the slow death of the web | The Verge
                          • The ethics of modern web ad-blocking – Marco.org
                          • Just doesn’t feel good – Marco.org
                          • Daring Fireball: ‘Because of Apple’
                          • This is how much adblockers are paid to let through some ads
                          • Brave Software | How to Fix the Web
                          • Publishers Strike Back at a Browser That Replaces Their Ads | WIRED

                            • Copyright

                            The Extra Dimension is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to https://thenexus.tv/ted11.

                            This episode of The Extra Dimension has a Fringe episode. You should really listen to The Fringe #377: TED #11 — It is the way!!

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