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>The crux of the problem is that the number of video ads that agencies and brands want to run far exceeds the amount of quality inventory — that is, well-placed video players on prestigious sites, like, say, Nationalgeographic.com. When the premium space fills up, media buyers start looking for video players in less coveted online real estate.

from my uninformed position as a viewer of advertising, it seems like the opposite of this is true. On any site i would consider premium (e.g. hulu, youtube, theonion, and yes, nationalgeographic) my biggest pet peeve with advertising is that they have more ad blocks to fill than they do advertisements, and they have to keep re-using the same ads over and over again. surely the advertiser doesn't want to pay for me to see the same 15-second video ad a half-dozen times in a row on a single visit, do they?




Yeah, it is just crazy; I watched an entire season of a television show on either NBC or CBS's website, and I remember them only having three advertisements that I got to watch over and over and over again; sometimes the ad would end, but the slot was timed for two ads, so it would show me the same ad a second time. I don't even dislike watching ads normally, and this was driving me insane.


I wouldn't be so sure that this isn't exactly what they want. Consciously you get annoyed, but it's those same ads that pop into your head from your subconscious every once in a while.


At least you can close the browser window...

Anecdote: about a decade ago, on the Lichfield to Redditch railway line, some bright spark decided to install video screens on the trains that played news clips and adverts. The sound level was idiotically high. The screens were positioned all along the main part of each carriage. There was a token 'quiet' section at the remote end of each carriage which did not have any form of sound insulation between it and the main part of the carriage.

The initiative lasted about 6 months. Rail staff told me that the level of vandalism targeted specifically on the equipment was the worst they had seen (some of the train staff had worked out how to jam the DVD-ROM players in the steel boxes to prevent worse damage to the kit). The jingles used to advertise the local car insurance (! on a commuter train !) brokers and estate agents still haunt my dreams. I will never buy anything from any of the local advertisers, many who have now gone bankrupt. I remember actually seeing a cafe bar that had been advertised on this system and crossing the road to get away purely by reflex action.

Can anyone explain why Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here official video on YouTube shows a shampoo advert aimed at young women? I mean, Gil wasn't exactly a male grooming icon if you know what I mean. Targeting appears off...


i'm pretty sure that only works over a period of time. an advertiser wants me to see their ad every day for a month. i can't imagine paying for a half dozen impressions over a single session is valuable.


Exactly. It's repetition. Maybe you don't click, but you do receive the same message 15 times. That has consequences ... Maybe not with you in particular, but averaged out across the audience, yes.


And that message is: Skip ad in 5 4 3 2 1 click.


For me, that message is "Digital Ocean is the most irritating company in the world and I'm never going to give them a cent if I can help it".




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