Comment by aws_ls | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aws_ls | Hacker News Reader

I think this speaks for 1000s and 1000s of small(er) website publishers. All squeezed by Google.

For example, we run a website having millions of page views a month. And similarly frustrated.

If we can divide the slot between 10 advertisers directly, we might make much more. Perhaps even double than what Adsense pays. The only reason, why we don't attempt that is time and effort getting directed in an unwanted direction.

And many small businesses are always struggling for bandwidth to do the core job (and projects that enthuse them). And Google is getting full advantage of this situation.[1]

Sometime back, I even wrote to them on falling CPCs (eCPMs) but of course, Google has a culture of not replying.

Its amazing to see, Internet living with a broken Ad model, for so long. I can't wait for a browser like Brave to take off. Where we can collect an ultra small amount from users for pageview, and still make more than Adsense.

[1] I suspect, this squeeze is happening more recently, because Google itself is feeling the pinch from Facebook. As its stealing a lot of its Ad revenue.

Unfortunately if your money comes from advertising your core job is advertising. So you should focus on your core business. I don't blame you for not liking this - and I don't like it either. The problem is that I like so many others probably wouldn't pay for your content/service if I had to.

You may not want to pay for it, if its inconvenient. But you may not mind paying for it in the aggregate, in a way similar to what you pay for Internet access. Especially, if there is a charge back feature built in, i.e. you can exclude some site for payment, if you felt they click baited you.

Edit: To add, I am slightly uncomfortable with 'if your money comes for Ad, then you are an Ad business'. People will need to settle for whatever model pays them, so that they can work on better things. On a different note, Google itself is spoken of as Ad company till date. But look at what it has now, possibly a leadership position in self driving cars; Companies working on longevity; Android and several other Alphabet companies.

> People will need to settle for whatever model pays them, so that they can work on better things.

If you're doing something valuable, figure out a way to get paid for it. By and large the thing you get paid for is the thing people value.

> On a different note, Google itself is spoken of as Ad company till date. But look at what it has now, possibly a leadership position in self driving cars; Companies working on longevity; Android and several other Alphabet companies.

None of which is profitable. They're an ad company with PR.

I was always saying that the Google motto is not "do no evil", but "do evil so thin that nobody can notice or can speak up and be taken seriously."

But that tiniest evil is multiplied by billions, with the power of automation. It is really an epoch-making company in that it gives a new light to the definition of the word.

An ordinary person (myself included) can't sense it. Their evil only appears in statistics.

If I ordered the parts individually and read the repair manual, I could replace the starter in my car for much less money than taking it to the mechanic. The only reason why I don't attempt that is time and effort getting directed in an unwanted direction.

Internet advertising is a bubble - it delivers so little value but so much money is flowing through it. It has to pop sometime.

Why would so many companies advertise if it provided such little value?

because there is so much opacity that they don't realize there's no there there

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/business/chase-ads-youtub...

What's the alternative? Broadcast television viewership is shrinking, and skews older. The demographics advertisers like are spending their time playing games and watching youtube videos.

Sponsored referral, social, direct mail, content syndication, out of home, etc. are all different channels, but depending on your product and your goals only a few are worth it (including search/display ads).

Isn't this what happened during the dot com bust of 2000?

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