NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] New York Times Joins the Obnoxious "Autoplay Audio" Ad Club
New York Times Joins the Obnoxious "Autoplay Audio" Ad Club
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000713.html
Greetings. Last November in "How to Sink a Major Web Site with a
Single Ad" ( http://bit.ly/8olOKv [Lauren's Blog] ), I noted how ABC
News had begun using an autoplay ad format that starts blasting audio
from an accompanying video advertisement as soon as an ordinary page
is loaded. I explained there why I considered this to be the most
obnoxious, distracting, and unacceptable online ad format. It's one
thing to autoplay video and audio when you navigate to a page where
you expect a multimedia presentation of some sort -- but when you
click on a news link and end up with a lipstick commercial blasting
from your speakers, forcing you to quickly hunt for volume or playback
controls, it's way beyond the pale.
I'm sorry to report that the venerable New York Times is now
engaging in this intrusive behavior, for example currently at
this page: http://bit.ly/a8WHZX (New York Times).
I am a strong supporter of ad-based Internet business models as an
alternative to "pay through the nose" models, as I've discussed in
"Blocking Web Ads -- And Paying the Piper" ( http://bit.ly/5meCbq
[Lauren's Blog] ). I am not a fan of "broad spectrum" ad blocking by
folks who seem to somehow believe that Web services can simply run on
air and love.
But the continuing rise of opportunistic autoplay ads with audio that
immediately blares forth without user intervention risks a major
ad-blocking backlash that will be difficult to argue against
forcefully.
Sites that use these ads in the hopes of perceived short-term gains
are taking a very significant longer-term risk that they may come to
seriously regret.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein