Thursday, October 1, 2015

No Ads or Free Websites?

by Julia Robinson

            The Internet has become part of our every day lives and is a key tool for companies’ marketing strategies. Most businesses have gone online and make many of their sales through pop-up advertisements. With Apple’s latest mobile software update, customers now have the option to download an ad-blocker app that block all ads, not just the ones that slow down browsing speeds and track users’.
            
     Apple made the ad-blocking applications available to the delight of every customer who hates getting interrupted by them.  With our fast paced world using mobile technology more and more often, it is nice to have the same technology available for our desktops, now on our phones.  While consumers are happy right now though, they might not be for long.  Ad-blocking software is causing economic distress in the world of web publishers.  Advertising is a large source of revenue for many websites as seen when “Adobe and PageFair calculated that blockers would cost publishers nearly $22 billion in revenue in 2015.” (Benner) The loss of revenues from advertisements could potentially make current free content on the Internet cost something. Not all advertising is bad in the sense that it slows down browsing and tracks the user.  Seeing that all ads are blocked with these new applications could have a positive affect on the advertising industry prompting more publishers that do not produce non-tracking fast speed ads to do so.
            
     Besides keeping much of the content on the Internet, ads are also great for consumers when presented properly. Ads can remind us of sales, ways that companies are striving to help the environment, events in our areas, as well as other information quickly at our fingertips instead of being searched for. Many advertisements are also fun to watch or look at and remind us of the talented creativity in this world.

Works Cited

Benner, Katie, and Sydney Ember. "Enabling of Ad Blocking in Apple’s IOS 9 Prompts Backlash." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.

1 comment:

  1. This is a fantastic convenience for me the consumer. Although, there is a tremendous drawback for companies that pay and rely on these ads. They are losing a great source for exposure. If a company is in business for games of other apps, they would greatly suffer. You don't often see commercial ads or billboards for apps, unless your game is Game of War. I think it is nice for the consumer, but detrimental to other industries. Apple is showing again that it has a firm grip on the tech world.

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