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posted by Blackmoore on Tuesday December 09 2014, @04:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the feeding-the-hand-that-bites-you dept.

Frédéric Filloux reports at Monday Note that two groups of French publishers, the GESTE and the French Internet Advertising Bureau, are considering a lawsuit against AdBlockPlus creator Eyeo GmbH on grounds that it represents a major economic threat to their business. According to LesEchos.fr, EYEO, which publishes Adblock Plus, has developed a business model where they offer not to block publishers' advertisements for remuneration as long as the ads are judged non-intrusive (Google Translate, Original here). "Several criteria must be met as well: advertisements must be identified as such, be static and therefore not contain animation, no sound, and should not interfere with the content. A position that some media have likened to extortion."

According to Filloux the legal action misses the point. By downloading AdBlock Plus (ABP) on a massive scale, users are voting with their mice against the growing invasiveness of digital advertising. Therefore, suing Eyeo, the company that maintains ABP, is like using Aspirin to fight cancer. A different approach is required but very few seem ready to face that fact. "We must admit that Eyeo GmbH is filling a vacuum created by the incompetence and sloppiness of the advertising community’s, namely creative agencies, media buyers and organizations that are supposed to coordinate the whole ecosystem," says Filloux. Even Google has begun to realize that the explosion of questionable advertising formats has become a problem and the proof is Google's recent Contributor program that proposes ad-free navigation in exchange for a fee ranging from $1 to $3 per month. "The growing rejection of advertising AdBlock Plus is built upon is indeed a threat to the ecosystem and it needs to be addressed decisively. For example, by bringing at the same table publishers and advertisers to meet and design ways to clean up the ad mess. But the entity and leaders who can do the job have yet to be found."

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 09 2014, @02:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 09 2014, @02:50PM (#124182)

    I once scored a $30,000.00 consulting contract after paying twenty cents for two clicks on a Google AdWords Select ad.

    I used to be in the direct mail business. It worked out very well. Direct mail especially, you can test small "drops" to determine if a larger one will pay off - different offer pricing, different cover letter text, different printing on the outside of the envelope.

  • (Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Tuesday December 09 2014, @03:14PM

    by hoochiecoochieman (4158) on Tuesday December 09 2014, @03:14PM (#124192)

    I once scored a $30,000.00 consulting contract after paying twenty cents for two clicks on a Google
    AdWords Select ad.

    I like to play the lottery, too. Never won any significant amount, though.

    I used to be in the direct mail business. It worked out very well. Direct mail especially, you can test small "drops" to determine if a larger one will pay off - different offer pricing, different cover letter text, different printing on the outside of the envelope.

    That's why my building has a trash basket right beside the mail boxes. All advertisement goes directly in there. I'm sorry, but I can't tell the difference between the offer pricing or the cover letter text, or the different printing. As far as I can tell, me and everybody else in my building dump all advertisement in that basket. It's always full and sometimes overflowing.

    You reminded me of a documentary I saw on TV, showing how those useless pieces of paper are recycled and become toilet paper. Advertisement is not so useless after all. One can always wipe one's ass with it.