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Instagram is testing adverts that users cannot skip past:
The social media platform currently allows people to swipe or scroll past adverts that appear in its main feed of images and videos, as well as in its Stories and Reels feeds.
But it is now trialling a feature called "ad break", which users say they can not flick past as usual.
Images shared online show a timer, which counts down to zero before normal functionality can resume.
"Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing," the Meta-owned platform tells those who click for more information.
Instagram has confirmed to the BBC that a trial is under way.
"We're always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers," it said in a statement, adding that it would provide further updates if the test resulted in permanent format changes.
It remains to be seen if the trial pleases advertisers - but it certainly does not appear to have gone down well with users.
[...] Meta is not the first big tech firm to force people to watch adverts.
YouTube is known for showing non-skippable ads to users watching videos on its platform or TV app who do not pay for its ad-free premium tier.
[...] Some users have responded by turning to ad blocking tools and browser extensions as a way around adverts that interrupt videos on the platform.
Google, YouTube's parent company, is in turn trying to clamp down on ad blockers.
However it is not clear that forcing users to watch more ads actually helps companies' bottom lines.
A study carried out by TikTok, published in January, suggested forcing viewers to watch adverts might actually lead to less engagement.
More than 70% of its participants said they were more likely to engage with the experience of an advert if there was an option to skip it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday June 06 2024, @02:13AM (2 children)
with the advertisement industry:
NOBODY likes ads.
EVERYBODY goes out of their way to disable or skip ads.
And I'm not even talking about ad-born malware, which is yet another cut in the open wound.
So why do Youtube or Instagram think forcing people to watch ads is a good idea?
If I had a company selling something and looking to advertise my products, I would never advertise on a platform that forces potential customers to watch my ads: they will turn against my products and my company because they're forced to hear about them. Why would I antagonize my potential customers?
The only explanation I can think of is that the internet is largely funded by advertisement, advertisement doesn't really work - or might create the opposite effect, turning people away from products being advertised - but nobody knows how to get out of that particular ditch and everybody doubles down on that dead-end business model when the going gets tough because they don't know what else to do.
Because really, when you think about it, forcing people to watch ads is tantamount to telling them to accept a little bit of torture to access a website. There's no other way to see this. It's such a fucking failed concept it beggars belief that anyone would think this is a viable business model.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 06 2024, @04:09AM
OK, that's two of us. But most of the world believes that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Better to annoy customers, than for customers to never hear of you. Maybe there is truth in that, I dunno. Advertisers are playing the odds with their annoying ads. Maybe the odds really do favor them. I dunno, and what's more, I don't care. I had my fill of ads more than 50 years ago, so I disable ads. I can spend an entire day on the intarwebz, and see zero ads. Apps on the phone? All it takes for me to dump an app, is to see an ad. I learned early on that "ad supported" meant that I might lose control of whatever I'm doing while a server serves up infinite, unstoppable ads. Screw that - I don't do "ad supported". Meanwhile - it seems that some people actually WATCH advertising. Like you, I can't figure that crap out. Why tolerate it?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by Ox0000 on Thursday June 06 2024, @06:36PM
MBA's and the concept of "unrealized profit" is why.
It's because they think they own you already and that you not giving them the money they think they are owed is something they consider theft. And anything you don't give them that they feel entitled to is something that they'll steal from you, and then sue you for not willingly handing it to them. That is one of the reasons that things such as Passkeys (which performs attestation of the device that is being used to access the service and will fail said attestation if there's something they don't like in there - such as an ad blocker) are being pushed by the likes of Google, and why AdBlocking will be made illegal by these fuckers as well.