The Ad Exception Myth
Like millions of others I use Mozilla Firefox as my primary web browser, although my HPR episodes may have given that fact away. Like millions of others I install both AdBlockPlus and NoScript in every Firefox profile I use. I've gotten used to surfing the web advert free. Of course the odd one or two slip in by accident but that's like wiping a spilled drop of water, compared to wading knee deep in it. I've seen many people advocate allowing adverts on websites you want to support but I don't see the point, as I will never click on any advert, ever. So not only does it waste my screen space, it will be designed to attract my eye while I'm trying to focus on the part of the site I'm visiting it for. It's also costing money for no reason.
Advertising is all about numbers in ever decreasing circles. The more people you show an advert to, the more people will click on it. The more relevant the advert is to that group, the higher the ratio of people who click on it. Even those who click on it, only a certain percentage will take it through to a sign up, or sale. That small number is often big enough to make a profit, as spammers know only too well. If they send 1 million spam emails, maybe 1,000 will click on them, from that 1,000 maybe 50 will buy. 50 from 1,ooo,ooo is not a lot but since sending that 1,000,000 is all but free, it's pure profit. that same 1,000,000 sent to users it believes have an interest in that product will yield a much higher ratio of sales, it may be closer to 1,000.
Advertisers know that most of what they send out is waste, they budget for it. That's why junk mail still comes through your letterbox. If they leaflet drop 1,000 houses, only a small number will read the leaflet before binning it, from that small number, most will still bin it, but an even smaller number will put it somewhere to read closer or perhaps act on. The way a website works, is that frames, images, objects like flash video or adverts are all pulled together from different locations and shown on the page with that layout for the surfer to see and interact with. That can be from internal links on the site itself or third party locations like ad servers.
For that page to show on your browser, it has to download every part of it to your PC. This means using your bandwidth, and the bandwidth from the server sending the data. Bandwidth is cheap nowadays, but it adds up. Many ISPs are now switching to a capping system, where peak time use is added up and limited, this is particularly bad on mobile tariffs where the caps are ridiculously small, and the charges for going over that are extortionate. Even if you take bandwidth caps out of the equation, the more data a page has to download to display the page, the longer it takes for the page to load. So what benefit does adding a filter to your ad-blocker give to the site owner?
- The advertising server still has to send the adverts, costing them bandwidth.
- The adverts have to load on your browser costing you bandwidth.
- If you don't click on them, they make NOTHING from you.
All you've done is cost people money and time. Unless the site owner gets paid by page views you've gained them nothing by allowing their adverts. The other possible gain is data about you, that they can learn a little more about you ie you don't click on the adverts you see. Advertisers have a name for people like that, they're called dead weight. They only want to know you if you can be persuaded to part with your cash.
By setting a filter in your ad blocker to allow adverts from a site, you're doing the equivalent of requesting a leaflet to be dropped through your letterbox KNOWING you'll bin it without reading it. It does however help assuage guilt by saying "I don't like adverts, but I do like you so I'll make an exception in your case since I'm using your site for free". It's self serving.
