Articles about Advertising

There is much to like about the new Moto G5 Plus. It's got a nice screen, fast processor, fingerprint sensor, large battery and an interesting design too. It also runs Android Nougat and it comes with Google Assistant out of the box. But all this comes at a price, which may seem a bit too high for some.

The base model, which comes with 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, costs $229.99 in US, while the high-end version, which features 64GB and 4GB of RAM, can be had for $299.99. It is not exactly cheap, if you want the latter model, but you can get it at a nice discount on Amazon.

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Last week saw the start of a backlash against Google after advertisers voiced concern that their ads were appearing next to extremist content. The Guardian, the BBC and the British government were among the first to start to pull their ads from the network, and the trend has spread to the US.

AT&T and Verizon are among American companies that have now announced that they are boycotting YouTube by pulling their ads. After concerns about being associated with terrorist and other extremist content, an increasing number of big names are calling on Google to make guarantees about ad placement.

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When adverts first started arriving in Windows 10, it wasn’t really a big deal. The operating system was a free upgrade after all, and these weren’t adverts, Microsoft insisted, as no money had changed hands.

Fast forward to 2017 and Windows 10 is now a paid product that’s filled with ads that Microsoft still insists aren’t ads -- they’re "suggestions", "prompted apps" and "tips". You can turn them all off, if you know where to look, but Microsoft hasn’t made it easy. Thankfully there’s a really quick way to disable most of the ads in a couple of mouse clicks.

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Google has announced plans to introduce safeguards for advertisers after complaints from many big names that their advertisements were appearing next to extremist content. The Guardian, the BBC, and the UK government are among those to have withdrawn advertising from Google and YouTube, and the company has been battling to get companies back on side.

Google's Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler, has admitted that while there are policies in place controlling the ad network, "at times we don’t get it right." He says he understands that advertisers don't want their ads to appear next to content that is not in keeping with their values, and more will be done to ensure this doesn't happen.

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Yesterday, the Guardian withdrew advertising from Google and YouTube after its ads were placed next to extremist content. The British newspaper was not alone -- broadcaster Channel 4, and even the British government soon followed suit.

Now Google is scrabbling to calm down the situation. Advertisers are unhappy that their ads have been placed next to extremist content and hate speech, and Google says it will improve the controls advertisers have over ad placement. At the same time, the company says: "we believe strongly in the freedom of speech and expression on the web -- even when that means we don't agree with the views expressed."

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The Guardian has pulled all of its ads from both Google and YouTube. The British newspaper was unhappy to discover that advertisements for its membership scheme were placed next to extremist material.

It is understood that the positioning was accidental, but the Guardian's chief executive described the situation as "completely unacceptable". Ads appeared next to videos for a "hate preacher", American white nationalists, and other controversial content. Google's AdX, DoubleClick Ad Exchange Service, algorithms are thought to be to blame and, in a letter to Google, the Guardian seeks assurances that the problem will not happen again.

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The issue of ad blocking once again resurfaced at the 2017 Mobile World Congress. Leading network provider, O2 announced that it is looking to give users the ability to block ads if they feel "plagued by advertising." This follows on from similar threats at the 2016 MWC from Three Mobile -- another leading network provider in the UK. Although there have been no legislative changes or work regarding ad blocking, the debate is very much in the headlines and in the public domain.

Ad blocking uptake has slowed, but brands should not be resting on their laurels just yet. According to statistics from Campaign magazine, during 2017, 41.1 percent of millennials will use ad-blockers, versus 26.9 percent of Generation X and 13.9 percent of baby boomers. The increase in mobile phone usage will force marketers to think more carefully about exactly how they will reach these people, so that users do not feel interrupted, specifically during mobile gaming. Consumers are so used to advertising on television and radio, but mobile is a very different medium. Ultimately, advertisers need to be less invasive and more creative in their approach to reach their target audience.

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Don't believe what Microsoft tells you -- Windows 10 is not an operating system. Oh, sure, it has many features that make it look like an operating system, but in reality it is nothing more than a vehicle for advertisements. Since the launch of Windows 10, there have been numerous complaints about ads in various forms. They appear in the Start menu, in the taskbar, in the Action Center, in Explorer, in the Ink Workspace, on the Lock Screen, in the Share tool, in the Windows Store and even in File Explorer.

Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable, and even goes as far as pretending that these ads serve users more than the company -- "these are suggestions", "this is a promoted app", "we thought you'd like to know that Edge uses less battery than Chrome", "playable ads let you try out apps without installing". But if we're honest, the company is doing nothing more than abusing its position, using Windows 10 to promote its own tools and services, or those with which it has marketing arrangements. Does Microsoft think we're stupid?

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Playable ads -- that is ads that mimic an app and let you interact with it -- aren’t new. I see them from time to time on my iPhone, and never interact with any of them. Because, why would you? However, Microsoft says that playable ads are not only better than regular ads, they are more profitable.

And now they are arriving on Windows 10. The Playable Ads preview goes live in the Windows Dev Center today, allowing developers to offer their own interactive adverts.

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Advertising agencies, search engines and cybersecurity specialists should work collectively to tackle the security threat from rising malvertising.

According to Ben Williams, head of operations and communications at Adblock Plus unless this happens more users will be exposed to potential security compromises such as malware and phishing, and this will drive further adoption of adblockers as a solution to these threats.

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Brands often turn to sources like Google and Facebook to find information about consumers, but a new report suggests that telecom carriers could be a valuable source of customer data.

The study of over 300 brands in the US, UK and France by Ovum for mobile technology company Synchronoss Technologies finds that 67 percent of brands consider telecoms operators to be a better original source of data insights than Google, Apple and Samsung.

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In a perfect example of poacher-turned-gamekeeper, Israeli company Shine -- known for producing ad blocking software -- has rebranded as Rainbow and will instead offer an advertising service. Rainbow will work primarily with telecoms companies, and will have a strong focus on targeted advertising.

The company says that it wants to provide "a better ad experience for consumers", having apparently decided that blocking ads was not working for everyone. Rainbow aims to win round consumers by providing an opt-in service that means people will see only advertisements that comply with industry standards and observe privacy rules.

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Emails to customers reveal that Google plans to kill off Google Site Search this spring. While customers who have paid for the service will continue to have access to it, no new licenses or renewals will be sold after 1 April, 2017.

As reported by Fortune, customers will be migrated to Google's ad-supported Custom Search Engine once their license or search limit expire. The move illustrates Google's on-going and growing reliance on advertising income, and it's something that is unlikely to be well-received by web users who are already sick of being inundated with ads.

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Ads -- be they on TV, on the web or in apps -- can be deeply annoying, hence the prevalence of ad-blocking software. But there are some ads that you can't always avoid, such as those tacked onto the beginning of YouTube videos; not all ad-blocking software is made equal, after all.

If this is a bugbear of yours, there's good news on the horizon. While YouTube is not ditching ads altogether, the 30-second monstrosities which cannot be skipped are being dropped.

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It wasn’t just the news of Trump and Brexit that dominated headlines in 2016 -- adblocking also remained high on the news agenda after experiencing a roller-coaster year. Murmurs among the industry claimed that 2016 would represent a possible adblocking Armageddon, while the IAB’s CEO and president, Randall Rothenberg, spewed the words of Adblock Plus (ABP) as "extortionists, internet killers, an unethical, immoral, mendacious coven of techie wannabes."

But that wasn’t all. In August, an epic back-and-forth battle between ABP and Facebook kicked-off as we successfully circumvented each new update made by the social media giant to uphold the users’ rights of blocking ads on the desktop version of the site. And if that wasn’t enough, in late November we once again proved that adblocking is 100 percent legal after a sixth court win, this time over German publisher Spiegel Online.

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