Surviving Ad-blockers: A New Era

Two decades ago, the advent of online ads brought irritation, distraction and annoyance to your online experience. What they didn’t bring was boundaries, the staggering lack of which paved the way for loud, resource hungry, distracting ads.

They were impossible to turn off or remove (some came with sound), they drained precious resources — but did they monetize effectively?

Somewhat…but with evaporating print revenues publishers were less inclined to worry about what was good and sustainable. Survival was the name of the game.

Fear and ignorance created the right conditions for lousy ad placements to run riot. Users hated them and complained, but publishers were set in stone. As anyone would expect, users demanded a change and ad-blockers came to be.

All Hail the Ad-Blocker

At their most fundamental/ideological level, they act as counter-incentives for badly served ads; they restore balance. For some people, ad-blockers embody the previously missing boundaries in web advertising.

When it comes to desktop computers, it’s not very hard for advertisers to do the right thing. They have ample real estate to work with without resorting to obnoxious techniques, though you still see auto-play video ads and pop-ups or pop-unders on many sites. Even so, publishers have freedom to implement ads in a non-threatening way on the desktop. There’s just more flexibility there. The mobile display is an entirely different story.

How do you eke out enough space for ads from the confines of a 4–6 inch display without disrupting visitors from the content? How do you keep your message legible, let alone compelling?

The problem with mobile ad delivery is that it’s next to impossible for publishers to do the right thing. They don’t have the knowledge, resources, or the inclination to make ads a value-add.

How, then, do you monetize mobile without pissing users off/away?

Apple’s Answer: You Don’t

Apple has taken aim at ads in browsers. Beyond their wanting developers to use iAds, Apple also believes poor ads are detrimental to user experience, and the plethora of complaints on over-monetized apps coupled with the fact that 50% of mobile ad click throughs are ‘fat finger’ taps seems to back this up.

They began by dismissing Flash (the most prominent ad-delivery technology) for being power-hungry and inefficient. Then they came up with “reader view” in Safari, an option that hides everything but the content (similar to Instapaper). To avoid turning developers away, they also introduced iAd, their own ad delivery vehicle, making it easy for app owners (but not publishers) to monetize by serving ads within apps.

In the latest iteration of their mobile OS, Apple introduced content blocking. This allows ad-blocker software to work inside the web browser, Safari. Think faster load times, lower data spending, better battery life and a cleaner browsing experience.

The challenge

Mobile ads aren’t going anywhere, of course. Apple is simply pushing their delivery into the walled garden of their apps.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about mobile browser ads or in-app ads… The simple truth is, phone displays are tiny. Mobile ads can’t help but compete against content, on a screen with no spare real estate. They’re never going to delight users or even compel action, for the large majority of mobile users.

Out-of-Home Advertising

The answer isn’t to figure out a way to use that mobile screen to show ads. There’s not enough room. But that mobile can provide context for OOH ads. Mira removes the ad delivery from the mobile phone, instead leveraging nearby displays that will actually delight and compel.

Our Vision For All

Imagine seeing an ad on the Taxi TV display for something that’s been on your mind, the next time you’re stuck in a silent cab. Or what about being shown a relevant display ad as you pass a digital billboard, or a video ad on the Gas Pump TV display that answers a nagging question while you are pumping gas. These purpose-built displays are endowed with sufficient to vast real estate, and an often captive, bored audience, and are much better at delivering relevant, timely ads that don’t make users want to scream.

And because those ads are triggered by an anonymous behavioral genotype created based on the phone ID, the ads are relevant, but are not personalized and respect privacy. All user data stays private. Mira compresses user behavior, interests, and traits into a tiny self-contained string that is not mappable back to consumers themselves.

Mira’s SDK is impressively resource light, meaning the impact on the user’s phone resources is negligible — no battery drain, no slowing down the phone.

Publishers get to display relevant ads to a receptive audience on displays with actual real estate. Users get to enjoy a better app experience and more relevant, timely ads. Developers can heartily monetize their apps without worry about privacy or UX concerns.

Users have thrown down the gauntlet. They don’t want to see your auto-play ads. They refuse to see their mobile screen obscured by ads. They are demanding a different way to monetize free content.

Mira is a Tool for Innovative Developers and Advertisers

We’ve reached a deafening consensus — the old way of monetizing on mobile is finished. Innovations in advertising technology are required: particularly, monetization tech that will delight consumers, publishers and advertisers is free content’s hope.

Quite simply, Mira is the future. For more information, reach out to me directly at jon@mira.is or sign up for the beta at http://mira.is