Three Ideas for Stopping the Rise of Ad Blocking

For as long as advertising has existed, people have been hating on it.  Over 70 years ago, Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock wrote, "Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."  Is it any wonder then that when consumers are finally able to start blocking advertising easily, effectively, and with no perceptible personal cost, they act on the opportunity?

And yet, amid the hordes of consumers lighting up digital ad-blockers like they're at a Grateful Dead concert, I'm asking myself a pretty fundamental question: "Why do we hate advertising?"  

You could point to the manipulative nature of advertising, as Leacock does.  But isn't that really what all media is intended to do on some level?  To shape and challenge the way we think.  To play with our emotions... to make us feel something.  If we go actively seeking that and are willing to dish out dollars for it, why would we abhor advertising for giving us more of the same?

You could cite the blatant consumerism... but in general we LIKE to buy stuff.  We want to discover things that can give us some kind of joy and make our lives better, if only for one fleeting moment.  We want to be trendsetters.  We have major FOMO.

I think the real reason why we hate advertising enough to actively block it today is that, in general, it stinks.  It's a crappy consumer experience- particularly digital advertising.

Good advertising should provide value to consumers, not be a negative that consumers have to put up with in a "deal with the devil" way to get free / subsidized content.  

What it takes to have good advertising is actually pretty simple:

The right ad, served to the right people, at the right time and in the right setting

The core problem with digital advertising today is that it's predicated on manufacturing reams of impressions- as many as possible- in order to overcome the incredibly low odds that any of the ads will actually hit and satisfy the conditions above.  It's about automation and toll collection.  Eyeballs whiz by, and you collect a couple cents for every thousand or so.  The more screen time people consume, the more the system gets fed.  Digital ad spend continues to climb.

But what's not accounted for in the thinking above is that when the conditions  (right ad + right people + right time + right setting) are not met, it's not a 0 for the consumer.  It's a negative.  Their time is wasted.  They're delayed or distracted from what they want to be doing.  And if they get frustrated enough, they lash back out at the system in order to disrupt it and protect themselves.  

In this case, that means they block. 

So what can be done about this?  How do we do a better job of satisfying those "right" conditions?  Here's are a few ideas:

1. Allow consumers to get ad-specific restraining orders.  

The most common complaint I hear about digital advertising is about retargeting.  But the way it's communicated by those outside the industry comes across more like "Those shoes I viewed on Zappos this morning are stalking me around the Internet!"  

Instead of forcing consumers to go nuclear and block all ads to avoid the creeps, why not give them the option to declare on the specific ad "I don't want to see this," or "This is not relevant for me"?  

This would be similar to what some social networks like Facebook allow consumers to do with native ads today.  I'm suggesting expanding it to any ad creative on the web.

2. Ask consumers what they're interested in, instead of guessing.  

So much of digital advertising today is about tuning our targeting to be better and better.  It's important to getting the "right ad + right people" thing right.  But amid a backlash against Personally Identifiable Information (PII), it's tough to move beyond educated guesswork.  

What if we stopped guessing and tried asking consumers to declare (or at least confirm) what they're interested in?  You'd need to gain their trust, overcome biases against declaring an interest in certain goods, and make it as easy as possible to provide this input and keep it updated- all really challenging.  

But imagine if you were able to achieve this dynamic and feed what consumers REALLY want into the ad selection and serving process.  It would make a step-change of difference in "right ad + right people." 

3. Let consumers time-shift their ad viewing and engagement.  

Even if you absolutely nail "right ad + right people," it won't matter unless you're serving it up at the right time and in the right setting for the consumer to engage with it.  Unfortunately, the wrong time is often when the ad is served; when you want to watch a clip or in the middle of an article, no matter how relevant the ad is to you, you probably aren't going to want to stop what you're doing to go deep on the advertised product or service.  

But what if you could save it until later, similar to how you can "read later" articles or "view later" video clips?  Assuming that you've nailed #2 above (relevancy of the ads to the viewer), would consumers be up for watching advertising later?  It's reasonable to be skeptical; but if you've ever found yourself actively seeking ANYTHING to look at in a subway car, doctor's office, or the back of a taxi, then you'd have to admit that it's plausible.  

What's the downside of giving YouTube viewers an additional "WATCH LATER" button after five seconds, instead of just a "SKIP NOW"?  

Those are just a few ideas.  They're not all terribly novel (e.g., Waze gave its app users a "view later" option on its ads... hard to interrupt when driving, after all), and some may strike you as unrealistic or improbable.  

But the main point is that, in addition to the current momentum behind incrementally improving targeting by lighting up new data sets and algorithms, it would behoove the industry to look for ways to drive dramatic improvements in the (right ad + right people + right time + right setting) equation by trying something very different.  

We need to show consumers some value from digital advertising and give them a reason NOT to block.         

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my current or past employers. If you would like to read more of my writing, you can follow me on Twitter at @chrislouie.

You can also read a few of my other LinkedIn posts:

• What Meerkat and Periscope Will Tell Us About the Future of TV
• Generation Z and the Demise of Advertising
• The Appification of TV