Comments on: Content’s Divorce from Advertising http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising a blog about the connected age Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:54:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Writing for an Audience of One http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-342 Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Writing for an Audience of One Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:51:56 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-342 [...] Content’s Divorce from Advertising [...] […] Content’s Divorce from Advertising […]

]]> By: Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Blog Flux, Or Why I Have Joined Web Worker Daily http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-341 Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Blog Flux, Or Why I Have Joined Web Worker Daily Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:31:41 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-341 [...] I am aware that previously I pointed out Content’s Divorce from Advertising, and now I am working for an advertising supported site. How do I reconcile this? Well my pseudo-Buddhist beliefs make me think there’s almost always an alternate way to look at things: who knows what’s good or bad, right or wrong, true or not? I try not to get too tied up in thinking I have the ultimate answers, as I don’t believe there are any. I also see a difference between what might happen in the long run and what happens in the short and medium run. The short and medium term is where economic opportunities arise. So even if we’re headed for a world where everyone’s an artist and everyone produces creative work without advertising being wrapped around it, we’re clearly not there yet. Where we are is in a world of freely flowing Internet advertising dollars. I’m not sure how I’ll like swimming in that river, but I’m excited to give it a try. [...] […] I am aware that previously I pointed out Content’s Divorce from Advertising, and now I am working for an advertising supported site. How do I reconcile this? Well my pseudo-Buddhist beliefs make me think there’s almost always an alternate way to look at things: who knows what’s good or bad, right or wrong, true or not? I try not to get too tied up in thinking I have the ultimate answers, as I don’t believe there are any. I also see a difference between what might happen in the long run and what happens in the short and medium run. The short and medium term is where economic opportunities arise. So even if we’re headed for a world where everyone’s an artist and everyone produces creative work without advertising being wrapped around it, we’re clearly not there yet. Where we are is in a world of freely flowing Internet advertising dollars. I’m not sure how I’ll like swimming in that river, but I’m excited to give it a try. […]

]]> By: Anne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-340 Anne Thu, 01 Jun 2006 17:43:57 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-340 I was exaggerating a bit, it's true. It's not reasonable to conclude that because I don't click on ads, no one else does either. Obviously, there's lots of money to be made still with online advertising, and like you say, if people weren't getting results from their ads, they wouldn't do it. Still, I can't shake the feeling that content wants to be liberated from advertising. Well, some content does--a lot of creators make content just so they can make money off of advertising. I'm still turning it over in my mind too. I was exaggerating a bit, it’s true. It’s not reasonable to conclude that because I don’t click on ads, no one else does either. Obviously, there’s lots of money to be made still with online advertising, and like you say, if people weren’t getting results from their ads, they wouldn’t do it.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that content wants to be liberated from advertising. Well, some content does–a lot of creators make content just so they can make money off of advertising.

I’m still turning it over in my mind too.

]]> By: John Koetsier http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-339 John Koetsier Thu, 01 Jun 2006 17:19:54 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-339 Great post. Turning it over in my mind a little trying to see what falls out, or up, or in. One question: If advertising is dead, why is Google making billions? That can't all be bots, can it? The thing about AdWords advertising is that it has an immediate measurability to it that you cannot duplicate offline easily. So when you stop making money on an ad, based not on clicks but conversions, you stop the ad. In other words: something must be working there, or all those people advertising via Google would just stop. Great post. Turning it over in my mind a little trying to see what falls out, or up, or in.

One question:

If advertising is dead, why is Google making billions? That can’t all be bots, can it?

The thing about AdWords advertising is that it has an immediate measurability to it that you cannot duplicate offline easily. So when you stop making money on an ad, based not on clicks but conversions, you stop the ad. In other words: something must be working there, or all those people advertising via Google would just stop.

]]> By: DesertStandard » Blog Archive » Advertising is Not Dead (At Least I Hope Not) http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-338 DesertStandard » Blog Archive » Advertising is Not Dead (At Least I Hope Not) Mon, 29 May 2006 15:26:21 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-338 [...] New site on my list called anne 2.0. Written by a mother of 3 in Denver, with quite the technical resume. Haven’t read any more of her site than this article but I put it into NNW this morning and will check in on it now. Here she makes some observations on the changing nature of Advertising: [...] […] New site on my list called anne 2.0. Written by a mother of 3 in Denver, with quite the technical resume. Haven’t read any more of her site than this article but I put it into NNW this morning and will check in on it now. Here she makes some observations on the changing nature of Advertising: […]

]]> By: Janne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-337 Janne Sun, 28 May 2006 16:27:05 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-337 So it's not doing a round trip? Strange in that case. I'm using linux (Ubuntu if it matters; it shouldn't) and Firefox 1.0.8. So it’s not doing a round trip? Strange in that case. I’m using linux (Ubuntu if it matters; it shouldn’t) and Firefox 1.0.8.

]]> By: Anne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-336 Anne Sun, 28 May 2006 16:19:12 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-336 Janne - perhaps you're right that some high-cost content will no longer be financed. The market (combined with social and cultural forces, of course) will have its say. I disabled the live comment preview but I'm really surprised to hear that you are seeing server round trips--that is really ugly. I didn't implement it myself (it's a plugin) but my reading of the code indicates it generates JavaScript on the fly to update the document on the client side without communicating with the server. I'll have to spend more time looking into it. Do you mind telling me what browser/platform you are using? Janne - perhaps you’re right that some high-cost content will no longer be financed. The market (combined with social and cultural forces, of course) will have its say.

I disabled the live comment preview but I’m really surprised to hear that you are seeing server round trips–that is really ugly. I didn’t implement it myself (it’s a plugin) but my reading of the code indicates it generates JavaScript on the fly to update the document on the client side without communicating with the server. I’ll have to spend more time looking into it.

Do you mind telling me what browser/platform you are using?

]]> By: Janne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-335 Janne Sun, 28 May 2006 14:48:27 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-335 Anne, regarding how some high-cost content will continue to get financed, the answer for some of it may well be that it won't. It is not completely inconceivable, for instance, that the kind of detailed, thourough coverage of even marginal news that newspapers excel at will disappear, not because nodody wants it, but because not enough people want it enough to make it pay for itself. Similarily, with movie audiences fragmenting, it's not impossible for the blockbuster movie phenomenon - one that isn't all that old, by the way - to disappear again, in favour of a higher number of lower budget, lower quality (though often as much fun) movies instead. Comment preview: it's very nicely AJAX:y, but it does mean a round trip to the server every time we type a character. You're probably pretty close to the server; I'm in Japan, however, and have the ping times to show for it. An obvious improvement in the preview code would be to always defer the preview update until there's a (say) 1 second pause in the typing. I really love the neat feature; it just doesn't work too well for me. Anne, regarding how some high-cost content will continue to get financed, the answer for some of it may well be that it won’t. It is not completely inconceivable, for instance, that the kind of detailed, thourough coverage of even marginal news that newspapers excel at will disappear, not because nodody wants it, but because not enough people want it enough to make it pay for itself.

Similarily, with movie audiences fragmenting, it’s not impossible for the blockbuster movie phenomenon - one that isn’t all that old, by the way - to disappear again, in favour of a higher number of lower budget, lower quality (though often as much fun) movies instead.

Comment preview: it’s very nicely AJAX:y, but it does mean a round trip to the server every time we type a character. You’re probably pretty close to the server; I’m in Japan, however, and have the ping times to show for it. An obvious improvement in the preview code would be to always defer the preview update until there’s a (say) 1 second pause in the typing. I really love the neat feature; it just doesn’t work too well for me.

]]> By: Anne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-334 Anne Sun, 28 May 2006 13:55:23 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-334 Dave - you're right; content creators can always have a day job. One caveat to this "divorce" that I'm thinking about, though, is that certain content productions--movies, feature articles about things happening in far away places, popular music albums--do require significant funding to come about. Where does the money come from that, if advertising is no longer viable? Perhaps advertising stays around for that but also maybe people will have to pay more for that sort of content (and execs involved in its publication/distribution will have to accept less money). This is already happening with newspapers. Though providing solid news coverage requires money, classified ads are moving to other venues like craigslist. How can newspapers continue to provide this coverage if the advertising no longer can support it? Dave - you’re right; content creators can always have a day job. One caveat to this “divorce” that I’m thinking about, though, is that certain content productions–movies, feature articles about things happening in far away places, popular music albums–do require significant funding to come about. Where does the money come from that, if advertising is no longer viable? Perhaps advertising stays around for that but also maybe people will have to pay more for that sort of content (and execs involved in its publication/distribution will have to accept less money).

This is already happening with newspapers. Though providing solid news coverage requires money, classified ads are moving to other venues like craigslist. How can newspapers continue to provide this coverage if the advertising no longer can support it?

]]> By: Anne http://www.annezelenka.com/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-333 Anne Sun, 28 May 2006 13:50:45 +0000 http://www.annezelenka.com/testbed/2006/05/contents-divorce-from-advertising#comment-333 Janne - Actually, the kind of blogs I was thinking of in context of this post were ones that do replace or supplement mass media--for example, blogs at ZDNet or written by industry analysts. For now, most of these feeds come without advertising so you can get pretty good mass media type content ad-free. But you're absolutely right that the vast majority of blogs are by hobbyists and will not replace mass media. I don't think mass media will go away. But I have questions whether it can continue to be ad-supported, or will have to be more directly funded by subscriptions or something else. What else? I don't know. As for the comment preview, sorry about that. It's very fast on my browser but I imagine some might have trouble with the JavaScript. I'm going to look into adding a checkbox to enable/disable it for those who are interested. Thanks for mentioning it. Janne - Actually, the kind of blogs I was thinking of in context of this post were ones that do replace or supplement mass media–for example, blogs at ZDNet or written by industry analysts. For now, most of these feeds come without advertising so you can get pretty good mass media type content ad-free. But you’re absolutely right that the vast majority of blogs are by hobbyists and will not replace mass media. I don’t think mass media will go away. But I have questions whether it can continue to be ad-supported, or will have to be more directly funded by subscriptions or something else. What else? I don’t know.

As for the comment preview, sorry about that. It’s very fast on my browser but I imagine some might have trouble with the JavaScript. I’m going to look into adding a checkbox to enable/disable it for those who are interested. Thanks for mentioning it.

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