Google to Distribute Online Video Ads 186
sufijazz writes to mention an AP story about Google's plan to start distributing online video ads. From the article: "The video expansion, announced late Monday, will affect thousands of Web sites that rely on Google to post ads related to the surrounding material on a page. For instance, a news story about housing might prompt Google to display an ad for real estate agents. Google isn't allowing the video ads to appear on its own Web site -- a heavily trafficked destination that produced 58 percent of its $2.25 billion in revenue during the first three months of this year."
Adblocker (Score:3, Interesting)
Appeal Dampened By Who? (Score:2)
I'm sure Google will have advertisers lining up even with this "downside".
Re:Appeal Dampened By Who? (Score:2)
I don't even have a problem with attractive, subtle animated GIF or flash ads.
I don't have a problem with "free" web content, paid for by the above.
I have a big problem with fugly epileptic-causing flashing GIF ads.
I have a big problem with flash or javascript ads which overlay the content or attempt to monopolize my browser without my content. That sort of advertisement prompted me to install Flashblocker, and when I vis
Re:Appeal Dampened By Who? (Score:3, Insightful)
Naw... I'll argue you'll find most people not playing the ads, and Google will have to adjust their strategy accordingly.
IMO, it's not a good move at all, advertisers won't go for it...
If you were watching a TV show, and it said "turn to channel 35 for great info on adult diapers", would you be as inclined to turn to channel 35? Perhaps if you were truly interested, but advertising isn't about that.
Re:Appeal Dampened By Who? (Score:2)
Or maybe not. Angering potential buyers doesn't do much to make your product/service any more appealing. I personally cannot stand ads with sound, especially with voice tracks, because I'm hearing impaired, have no directional hearing, and when I'm at home late at night and I hear a strange voice talking, I worry that someone has broken into the house. (I'm serious...)
If I'm at work and I get unexpected noise, it bothers other people
Re:Adblocker (Score:2)
But after RTFA I see that half the posts in here are misguided.
There is one issue though: can javascript on the pages click the ad causing them to auto-play? If so, it's bad for both users and for Google - from Google's (and its customers) perspective it will be a new form of click fraud. From users' perspective, it'll suck because their bandwidth will be used up for these ads. How can Google police such
On every site that uses AdSense? (Score:4, Funny)
porn sounds (Score:2)
Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
The appeal to me is precisely that I don't have to watch the ads if I don't want to. Thank goodness.
Of course, advertisers are probably less enthused -- but I'm sure major brands understand that potential customers do get pissed off by intrusive advertising.
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
what dream-world do you live in? got room for one more?
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
Anecdotally, I recall a couple years ago when it was impossible to visit a commercial website without having a video ad superimposed over the web page (closeable or not). I don't notice it as much anymore -- either the wembasters realize that it kills their traffic, or advertisers are realizing that
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:3, Funny)
You didn't happen to switch to Firefox with adblock around that time, did you? ;)
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:1)
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
Google doesn't provide the browser; they're just providing the media. The patent covers how the browser handles the display, not what is being displayed.
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:1)
Of course, advertisers are probably less enthused....
I suspect advertisers would gladly give up some of the exposure they get from streaming video ads in exchange for more information about who sees their ads and how popular a certain ad is (or how many times it gets clicked-and-streamed). One of the eternal problems with television advertising is that advertisers have little idea how much their message is actually being heard and seen, and by whom; there are ratings, but they're a very crude measurement
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
(And, in my case, find and install AdBlock as a direct result)
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2, Insightful)
My major concern is being able to remove them as well with NAE regardless of if the icon is tasteful or not. So long as I can do that, I doubt I'll be as bothered with them as I am about video that automatically plays (pointing at you, ESPN.com).
Nukes. . . (Score:3, Informative)
I'm currently using. .
NukeAnything Enhanced
Flashblock 1.5
on top of Firefox/1.5.0.1
I have no trouble Nuking flash banners. Maybe you can get some use out of that. .
Cheers!
-FL
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
Nope. My adBlock list can attest to that.
I'm glad I won't have to make it grow to include * from google though!
Re:Whew, good thing I RTFA (Score:2)
The appeal to me is that these ads will probably get blocked by my existing filters, just like the rest of Google's ads. Let them show blinking pop-ups with sound and Flash for all I care, I'll never see them. Sometimes I almost forget that websites even have ads.
Eolas patent (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Eolas patent (Score:1)
I actually prefer it in this kind of context.
Re:Eolas patent (Score:2)
Truly unfortunate (Score:5, Interesting)
Hopefully this won't turn out as bad as it sounds.
Similiar announcement? (Score:2)
Re:Truly unfortunate (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Truly unfortunate (Score:3, Insightful)
Flash video is downloaded only upon request (Score:3, Informative)
Having worked on the video playback component in Flash and Flex (I'm an engineer at Adobe), I feel obligated to enlighten you on the bandwidth implications for users visiting web sites containing Flash-based video ads.
There are three ways [adobe.com] to play video in Flash:
Of these, the first one is recommended only for extremely small video clips (5 seconds or less), because embedding th
Any option for adsense users? (Score:5, Interesting)
Its close, but still - what if I dont want any video ad appearing on my website through adsense? Do people have choice of "only text"/"text and video"/"video only"?
Re:Any option for adsense users? (Score:2)
Re:Any option for adsense users? (Score:1)
You can choose between graphical ads en text ads. I'm quite confident they will add another option for this video ads.
Re:Any option for adsense users? (Score:5, Interesting)
Considering that Google already serves image ads through AdSense, and that AdSense subscribers can choose not to have image ads on their site, it's a good bet that sites will be able to opt-out of displaying video ads as well.
It's a shame I can't set a cookie in my browser (or something) that tells Google I have no interest in video ads. The advertisers would like it because they wouldn't waste an impression on an annoyed viewer, and the users would like it because they can choose what kinds of ads to view.
They should change their logo (Score:1, Funny)
Video ads will just use up a lot of bandwidth, make pages relying on google ads load slow, and be a real annoyance worse than banner ads and popups. Why aren't they doing it on their own page? Simple - they know that it makes whatever page that it shows up on look like crap and load slow.
Re:They should change their logo (Score:1)
It's not "Do No Evil"...it's "Don't Be Evil".
But other than that, you make a strong argument.
Advertisements are obviously the source of all evil.
Re:They should change their logo (Score:2)
Wouldn't be Slashdot without those people and the ones who don't even bother to read the article before whining.
Why not any Flash content? (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, the video player of Google (the online one) is working inside Flash, and uses Flash video, but why not allow *any* Flash content as an ad?
For once, what would be a 1MB video could easily fit into less than 100k vector and procedural (scripting enhanced) animation using the full toolset of Flash.
---
Of course, last but not least, I wonder where is the promise of Google to always deliver light non-intrusive ads. Text-only ads were so great, but soon polluted by big image banner ads (not on the Google's site yet, but on google ad enhanced sites), and now... videos.
Google is walking on a thin line right now.
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:3, Informative)
Because then the advertiser has to pay some Flash artist for who knows how long to magic them up a snazzy SWF file with who knows how many individually designed and programmed elements, instead of what is probably some idiot-proof tool to simply drag-and-drop an MPEG of their existing TV ads into.
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
CPU load (Score:2)
I have seen flash banner ads with 10s of translucent layers and antialiasing and shit that tried to run at 1000 fps or so. One of them made an A64 come down to a crawl.
Re:CPU load (Score:2)
That's what prompted me to finally install FlashBlock and be done with it. I didn't mind (too much) the moving ads or the ones that made noise when you would mouse-over them. But when you start to screw with my CPU utilization, even while in the background, you get the boot.
Seems to have made the system much more responsive as a result
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not speculation - it's a reality. Google has already began serving Flash animated ads. I don't know if they still do or not - I began to block them as soon as the first one showed up.
Side note - that ad was for Burger King. The fact that I remember this might be proof that the ad worked. However, the fact that I now immediately associate "Burger King" with "crapp
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
As I was driving around town yesterday... I was amused by the thought of how repugnant I find fast food places. Somewhere along the line I stopped looking at McDs, BK, Hardees, Wendy's as suitable places to get a bite to eat.
Instead, I go looking for the local diner or greasy spoon. Probably just as bad for me, but the food is often made by the owners of the place and it's nice to get waited on at the counter. (
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Speaking of Flash, I'm still waiting for you to answer the question about why you claim FLEX does not lock you into Flash [slashdot.org]. What's your definition of "vendor lock-in [wikipedia.org]", and why do you claim that FLEX isn't a textbook example?
-Don
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Dude, I'm afraid of you. You've posted 22 comments in the Laszlo thread regurgitating basically the same thing like a lunatic, and now spilling it over in other threads.
Are you obsessed with me or something? You can't get on with your life unless I agree Flex is teh evil vendor lock-in?
I could speak for hours how Laszlo's DHTML is merely a beta and doesn't really work well (tested it), or how it existed for ages with just Flash support, or how Laszlo wouldn't exist if Macr
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Dude, I think you're more afraid of standing up for your own words, than you're afraid of me. Grow some guts.
FYI, I posted 22 comments because the discussion was about an article I wrote, and it was my web server that got slashdotted. I was simply answering questions and correcting mistakes. You made a lot of big mistakes, so I posted several replies to correct you. You still haven't addressed your biggest mistake: claiming that FLEX does not lock you into Flash. It's an obviously false and ridiculous s
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Ok here's my last attempt, and I swear you're pissing me off, because I'll have to repeat myself AGAIN:
Regarding speed and framework:
I've said two or three times they don't target the same player. Technically they target a thing called "Flash Player" but they target different runtimes inside the player with a different rendering engine a
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
You've been ignoring what I say and forcing me to repeat myself many times, and you actually complained that I posted too many messages to the discussion about my own article, because you made me repeat myself so often by not listening to what I said. But you're not pissing me off, you're just making me laugh.
"Regarding speed and framework": I will again repeat myself and say that OpenLaszlo is targetting the new SWF9 player (Flash 8.5), and taking advantage of its advanced features. So yes, they do tar
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Re:Why not any Flash content? (Score:2)
Then stop saying you're never going to reply to me again, then replying to me!
Here's a web site just for you, suv4x4: http://www.fuh2.com/ [fuh2.com]
-Don
not so bad (Score:4, Informative)
The appeal of Google's video ads might be dampened by controls that will prevent the messages from automatically streaming across a Web page. Google instead will display graphics promoting video ads that won't be played unless a viewer clicks on a play button.
The activation feature could discourage many advertisers from signing up for the new video service, said Jupiter Research analyst David Card. "This isn't going to be a game changer for Google, but it gives them a much richer palette."
</FTA>
It really isn't that bad, although I don't know how many people are going to click the ads. I'm sure some will to start, just for the novalty, but over time, I doubt this will be a big revenue generator for Google (wasn't that an original opinion considering the quote from Mr. Card!).
I wonder if the video will work on *nix anyway, and if it doesn't, whose going to bother installing the codec and plugin to make it work?
Google could get themselves into trouble though, if they let those pictures be animated, but I'm sure they know not to do that, otherwise they would just have the video start automatically.
Adblock FTW (Score:2)
I'm sure as hell not wasting my bandwidth downloading a VIDEO every time I visit a page.
Intelligence is in extra short supply today. (Score:2)
The second comment more than half an hour before this clears up the issue.
I can understand the tons of AC's posting it just to be stupid, but real people with real ID's this dumb?
Re:Adblock FTW (Score:2)
I'm sure as hell not wasting my bandwidth downloading a VIDEO every time I visit a page.
Well, what you wrote above shows that you sure as hell didn't waste any
bandwidth RTFA.
Will this be optional for the publisher? (Score:1)
more fscking with the web (Score:2)
Re:more fscking with the web (Score:2)
Re:more fscking with the web (Score:2)
Re:more fscking with the web (Score:3, Informative)
Re:more fscking with the web (Score:2)
I for one welcome our... err video ads to the web (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is this a good thing? Everyone who visits a site will actually see the ad rather than ignore it, so webmasters can demand more money and stop producing websites that try and trick you into clicking an ads and stuff.
Video is a proven model or advertizing, ask someone what was the last web ad they seen? now ask someone what was the last tv commerical?
Maybe advertizers will start demanding better content?
Maybe we will see a whole new industry built on creating video ads for the web?
Video ads usually get your attention with something entertaining... Some nice eye candy...
This will really put a push on building better networks and pushing broadband, maybe advertizers will start putting pressure on broadband providers... Demand for bandwidth with money behind it, unlike bittorrent which is a demand for bandwidth without any money behind it.
Ofcourse there is the bad side, it dose suck if your on dialup or slow broadband, or have a slower computer, but all you have to do is uninstall flash or not install it in the first place, hell this might be the push we need to have average joe buy a new computer and broadband...
Re:I for one welcome our... err video ads to the w (Score:2)
Re:I for one welcome our... err video ads to the w (Score:2, Insightful)
Potential broadband customer: "Why should I get broadband?"
Salesman: "Then you can watch video ads!"
PBC: "..."
Re:I for one welcome our... err video ads to the w (Score:2)
>> ask someone what was the last web ad they seen?
> Can't remember. Must have been a few weeks ago thanks to a good adblocker.
I'm talking about average joe here, most people don't use ad blockers... Hell I don't even bother with ad blockers, I just ignore most ads.
>> now ask someone what was the last tv commerical?
>Can't remember. I use ad breaks to go to the toilet, make a cup of tea etc.
The few times I've watched TV in th
Ads aren't always evil. (Score:3, Interesting)
Silver lining (Score:2)
Styling (Score:2)
(Disclaimer, I am not an adwords subscriber, so I am not sure exactly how much control you get)
With textual ads, I assume that a little CSS can blend the add nicely into the rest of your site.
But with these new picture (and then video) ads, they don't fit in anymore to the rest of the sites appearance.
I realize not all sites are fashion conscious, but there are some sites out there that I am sure will hate the new picture ads.
A reminder (Score:4, Informative)
AIM Video Ads piss me off! (Score:2)
This does two things: it comes out of my speakers which are usually cranked pretty loud, AND they consume system resources temporarily enough to slow down my machine.
That PISSES ME OFF TO NO EXTENT, so I will usually close out of the AIM client (or minimize it), I am hoping that AIM is seeing how many people let the video run it's length, and when they look at my stat,
Re:AIM Video Ads piss me off! (Score:2)
You want to get *really* ticked off?
Open up Task Manager and look at how much CPU time the AIM client uses, even when minimized. You'll find that it uses quite a bit of CP
Has ANYONE rtfa? (Score:2)
Reading through these comments, one has to wonder just how short the attentionn span of the average slashdotter really is. This article is real short, yet nobody seems to have read it and everyone makes false assumptions on the "suspect the worst" model.
According to TFA the video ads will _not_ be starting playback automatically, but only if a play button is pressed.
Re:Again?? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think they'll mind to much - from tfa:
Re:Again?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot already has those fancy Microsoft video ads, and thiers are set to autoplay! Although, thank FSM, they are muted from the start and the user gets to activate the sound.
Re:Again?? (Score:5, Funny)
*fires up IE*
Damnit you're right!
and yes, your point was completely valid, if the
Re:Again?? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, I completely forget about Ad-Block and similar features within user setups that are available. I am at work, I have to get the slow served, full featured internet. God forbid I try and save my office some bandwidth by editing my System32 "hosts" file.
Re:Again?? (Score:1)
Re:Again?? (Score:1)
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
None of the sites I am supposed to be at (mainly NY and Federal Criminal Justice sites, Lexus Nexis, and the like) have pop ups or ads. The problem doesn't exist according to our IT guys, only if you step outside of where you are supposed to be does it become a problem.
But I am allowed to go anywhere I want I often have to go to MySpace b
Re:Again?? (Score:2, Interesting)
But i do not block the text only adSens.
Sometimes the have relevant info and i use them.
I DO however block all flash/image ads.
And the second google adds images or video i add them to my blocklist.
And i don't think im alone.
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
It's up to each adsense account as to which type of ads to display.
If you go to a site that starts loading video ads, ask them to go back to text only.
Re:Again?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Amazing... as I write there are 17 top-level posts of which 11 are saying something to the effect that "OMFG!!! Waste of bandwidth! All these sites are gonna be really slow!!! I'm editing my hosts file..." etc.
This means that fully 64.7% of Slashdot readers are so eager to rant on (not having read TFA) that they don't even mind making themselves look like utter fools, proudly displaying their complete ignorance of the matter under discussion, their inability to understand the facts before formulating an
Re:Again?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Again?? (Score:1)
I'm really getting tired of looking for good conversation about slashdot topics because way too many people post before even reading the article or even really thinking about the summary.
Now, my thoughts on the topic. I manage the google ads (and other internet ads) at the small health product company i work for. It is always a challenge to come up with wording for the ads that makes us stand out from our cometitors because you only get 3 short lines of text. A video
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
I imagine that if they introduced these new formats, they'd be part of a tiered pay system.
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
Welcome to Slashdot! :-)
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
I'm 5849, you're 33222; looks like I was most remiss in not welcoming you back around 1998 :-)
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
Re:Again?? (Score:2)
Maybe there's no truth in this, but people have told me that web pages can contain these things called "links" [w3.org] using which you can, for example, allow people to choose whether or not to download and view large files. I'm not sure if Google's engineers are aware of this technology, but if so they may well make use of it. Perhaps they can tie it in with their plan (described in TFA) to
Re:Again?? (Score:3, Informative)
Go to Google Video, and search for something. Note the play buttons to see a short preview of the clip.
Click the button. It uses JavaScript to load the preview in Flash.
Re:Google Briefcase (Score:1)
Re:Ah yes just what we need (Score:1)
Try searching for Tom DeLay, see what ads pop up on the right. Then try searching for Hillary Clinton.
Re:what ads? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:what ads? (Score:2)
It would be nice, but I don't think it will happen. If a website consistently offers useful content, that I can't get anywhere else, I'ld gladly subscribe if the price isn't outrageous. I'm sure many people wouldn't like it, but at the same time, I believe most people don't mind paying for information that
Re:what ads? (Score:2)
Oh yeah, those ads often sure are scum. Punch the monkey? Give me a break. (That one is a lot of why I, too, block ads. They had their chance and blew it. I'm scum for giving people chances and then giving them second chances and then saying "OK, you're dead to me now"?
I'll continue surfing in peace, thanks. Have fun living Minority Report.
Re:Google Bias (Score:2)
Re:*sigh* (Score:2)
Re:Google can't be that stupid (Score:2)
I'm sorry but WTF? Altavista ring a bell?
And when Google just started out... Yahoo anyone?
OT I know, but Lycos???
Re:this is not very new (Score:2)