Why Are Online Ads So Bad?

To read one article on The Cut I had to deal with two pop-up ads, an autoplay video, and a fairly unobtrusive banner. I’m surprised there wasn’t a newsletter subscription form somewhere in that mess.

If I clicked on this through Facebook, there’s a chance a digital pixel would follow me around, showing ads to remind me how much I’m missing out on. There’s also a chance my information would be sold to other advertisers who can then try to bombard me with ads a 20-something gal would like. They’ll appear on my Twitter, my Instagram, my Facebook, my Gmail, stalking me, begging to give them one more chance.

You’ll see this especially frequently if you shop online. The pixels will remind you about that Hello Kitty phone case you thought you wanted to buy because it was 2am, you were drunk, and you were probably just trying to order pizza anyway. But here’s the thing: If I bought the phone case, if I subscribed to the newsletter, if I already pay for the magazine I still see the same ads.

In the age of endless tech revolutions and the Ubers of things, online advertising is surprisingly stagnant. That stagnation is an expense online businesses are increasingly unable to afford. I’ve never bought anything because of an autoplay or banner ad. If I want to subscribe to a magazine, my mind won’t be made up by an annoying pop-up.

But what’s most baffling to me is that the same companies who know exactly how I act of the internet and what I buy refuse to use that information in their advertising. They know, for example, that I bought that Hello Kitty case. But they don’t stop showing me ads for it. They know I already get the newsletter, but the pop-ups persist. They know I subscribe to a magazine but the offers of free tote bags with a year-long commitment keep coming. Autoplay ads keep autoplaying despite Facebook knowing I scroll past them without a glance.

A few tweaks in algorithms could make ads infinitely more effective. Instead of bombarding me with offers, target what I like. We already know that engaging, in-depth advertising (advertorials, for example) works better than presenting a customer with endless banners. We also know businesses, especially the news business, are in a desperate search for advertising that works instead of annoying us. So why haven’t we directed more effort into ads that are more pleasant, functional, worthwhile for the business and customer both?

Seeing the ads we want to see could mean less use of AdBlockers. It potentially means more dollars in pockets. If there’s a pop-up on an article I’m ambivalent about, I navigate away instead of trying to get through the noise and to the content.

We really don’t all have to suffer the barrage of bad advertising, we could just be a little bit smarter about it. We have the technology.