The good thing about Google's cost-combative platforms like Adwords and DoubleClick is it prices the lowest rung of spammers out of the market.
Multinationals leaving these platforms means the price drops down. This not only means more illegitimate entities can afford to compete, but that publishers need more of them, in more places, just to stay afloat on the same income.
You could argue that this is falling apart because Google takes a 50-68% cut of what the advertisers pay, away from publishers. I'm not sure how this competes with old world advertising, but that seems pretty severe. If they edged off on this —they'd lose a ton of money but— they'd probably make the internet better.
I'm afraid that the situation is backwards. Media aren't published for an ulterior reason and propped up with ads to cut costs. Most digital media exist to show ads, and it props them with "viral content" to lure in readers.
Paper media can sell a paper copy and (theoretically) run without ads. Digital media would have to sell subscription (when they can offer high-quality content), or run entirely on ads (then the content is secondary). Guess which type is prevalent.
It's really too bad that they got away from being an equalizer in the advertising space. Pricing the spammers out of the market isn't the best way. Keeping the advertising from becoming so in-your-face is the right way to fight this. And quit trying to get ahead of my thinking in what I want to purchase. I never recall them ever getting it right. I've never searched for something, seen an ad, then purchased. EVER.
And I'm ready to make a several-hundred-dollar purchase tomorrow and I see ZERO ads around these products. I see plenty of crap.
In my view, the founding hypothesis of the company- that people will be amenable to ads connected to what they are searching for- is incorrect. So we're seeing a pretty clumsy pivot.
I keep hoping Duck Duck Go takes it elsewhere. It could be very easy, maybe as simple as a little button I click that says "I am looking to purchase" and now let the advertisers make their pitches.
The point is, I would like to see if they got better results by letting me drive.
Multinationals leaving these platforms means the price drops down. This not only means more illegitimate entities can afford to compete, but that publishers need more of them, in more places, just to stay afloat on the same income.
You could argue that this is falling apart because Google takes a 50-68% cut of what the advertisers pay, away from publishers. I'm not sure how this competes with old world advertising, but that seems pretty severe. If they edged off on this —they'd lose a ton of money but— they'd probably make the internet better.