new form of ads (not just ad networks)

[Go Dot Yourself]

I think that the post on new forms of ad networks (where you pay a flat fee to advertise) is a good idea, but I think the key to the failure of banner ads is just the fact that they get boring and old fast.

If we can think of a new form of advertising altogether it would sell better. This is because it would be new to people so they would pay attention to the ads (at least at first) unlike banner ads (which many people have learned to ignore and just tune out of their heads entirley).

does anyone have any ideas of how we can replace banner ads with some new form of advertising? There's just gotta be something we can do that hasn't been done before.

What if we tried out the idea of selling ads at a flat fee with radio-type ads, that would simply play in the background of the site for around 30 seconds. Audio always catches people's attention at least at first, so for lets say $25 a month someone can get a site that gets 5,000 visitors a day to play their radio ad on their main page or some particular section of the site or whatever.

That way webmasters can put up an ad for yahoo on their main page, an ad for egghead.com on their "merchandise" page, an add for amazon.com on their "literature" page, etc. if each of these advertisers paid $25 bi-monthly or per month, that means the webmaster would get $75 per cheque everytime the time to get paid rolled around).

Of course this idea still needs improvement, but other comments would be appreciated. I sincirley belive that an entirley new form of advertising like this radio idea is needed to enliven the industry.

sorry for the long post, but I hope we get our thoughts together and revolutinize the industry!

[Cheap Bastard]

do you know how many 56k users are still around???

also, many adnetworks and even banner exchanges don't allow you to have sounds on your pages because they're too big.

Also, there's the huge bandwidth costs... a Gif ad is generally under 30k (actually, 30k's pretty big). An mp3 (as opposed to wave file, which is even bigger) of 30secs would be over a meg even at horrible freq rate.

Another example of things that sound great in theory, but in reality are pretty... 'distant' (to be neutral).

[Go Dot Yourself]

Actually, it wouldn't take such a long time for a crappy mp3 at a bad frequency rate, but true, it would be too much for 56 K (which i use at home).

That was just a suggestion though and its not perfect (in the future where bandwith gets better for the average user), but can we agree on at least one thing, which is that we need a new form of ads other than banners?

[Czar]

Have you guys seen UnitedVirtualities' Shoshkeles yet?

They incorporate a quick-loading flash file, which can contain low-bitrate audio and, of course, scalable animation, and can move across (or burn through) a page for a limited time.

A number of industry bigwigs, such as Terra Lycos, iWon and Yahoo (the Ford Explorer ad) have employed this type of technology recently, and all signs suggest that both the publishers and advertisers in these limited test runs have been happy with their results.

Looks like these are the future (until the next rich-media fad comes along):
http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/shoshkeles.htm

[Go Dot Yourself]

Not a bad idea! Really does catch your attention. I think this may be something good... this is what I was talking about, something that would catch your attention and bring results to advertisers and webmasters.

But that doesn't mean we shouldnt start thinking of new things either.

Especially since that new format for putting internet on TVs is coming out, and that will require (or at least will be able to use) a new form of advertising as well... did you guys hear about that? Basically the internet and TV coming together into one (and im not talking about WebTV)

[Czar]

iTV, yes. Actually, that will be an interesting time for all involved. Now that TV has gone digital, devices will become available that allow users to skip ads, much in the same fashion as internet ad blockers are gaining momentum. As a result, producers of iTV programming will have to devise technologies and systems (such as product placement, infomercials, music video ads, etc) in order to support their content.

Of course, those who opt to go down the user-pays, cable-style system will avoid the trouble of innovating in this fashion, but the rest of us will have to do some thinking.

iTV will be broadband, though, so the technologies that we develop for the web within the next few months/years will have to be slim, as well as savvy.

[Cheap Bastard]

i don't really mind the ads on TV that much...
I mean, it's usually pretty good... gives you some time to get extra drinks, more snacks, or goto the restrooms...

[Czar]

True. It makes you wonder, though. While people are quite happy to sit through about 18 minutes worth of ads during a 1 hour session of Friends, they still throw up their arms whenever we mere web publishers add a couple of banners or a popunder to our sites in order to keep them free.

I guess you just can't please everyone. ;)

[Go Dot Yourself]

That's true, but people go on computers and expect to get something done, a popup window is annoying to them because it get their attention off what they're trying to do. I think that ultimitley peopel will end up paying subscription fees to sites, ranging from $.50 to $2.95 per month or so.

This opens the door for a new type of business that would bill people one flat fee for all the little subscriptions....

[Czar]

Such as micropayment brokers. Yup, plenty of big names vying to lead that market right now. Everyone from PayPal, through to eBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo and CitiGroup are testing systems that will allow publishers to accept small fees from users in exchange for certain user privileges, such as the ability to download a certain file or read a single story.