Tech Advertisers: Ad blocking disaster

From: Jim Stiles <jwstiles_at_winbatch.com>
Date: Fri 05 Oct 2001 11:34:58 -0500

Problem: Ad blocking by Techies will lower response in
target audience that uses it. It may also adversely
affect image of advertiser since dead link will be
interpreted as a problem with the advertiser site, not
as a problem with ad blocking on the computer with the
browser.

Many, maybe most, of our Tech customers automatically
block DoubleClick URLs. They do this by editing their
hosts file to redirect DoubleClick, and other,
advertising links into never never land. Their browser
reacts to the null URL by putting an error graphic, or
page, where, or when, the link fails.

We recently advertised in a Network World email. At NWW,
they changed our (non blocked) tracking link to a
blockable DoubleClick link.

Bad news for us. Many of our leads went straight into
the bit buckets of tech customers. NWW agreed to rerun
the ad with our own tracking URL.

Conclusion: When you work with a tech audience
characterized by common use of adblocking technology, be
sure your ad will get through the blocks. Use a tracking
URL that won't be blocked. Be sure your ad vendor knows
to keep your URL. It must not substitute another tracking
URL. That is not only blockable, but the error message
that results from a blocked ad may be interpreted as a
problem with your site. Not only do you not get the
click, you create the impression that you are inept.

Some info on ad blocking.

Technically savvy users are most likely to block ads,
java applets, and the latest ad gizmos. Here is how they
block banners and links:

Every PC, Mac, Linux, Sun etc. computer with a TCP/IP
connection has a hosts file called, simply, 'hosts'.
It contains lines like this:
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ads.double-click.com
127.0.0.1 double-click.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd20.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd25.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd28.doubleclick.net

The 127.0.0.1 is a null address. The URL following the
null address is the lookup URL. If a Web page has
ads with, for instance, ad2.doubleclick.net as an
address URL, the request is returned empty and an
error message is displayed by the browser. If the URL
was a banner ad, then the banner is blanked out. If the
URL was a link to a page, then an error condition is
reported with this text:

      The page cannot be displayed
      The page you are looking for is currently
       unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing
       technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust
       your browser settings.

---------------------------------------------------------


If a potential customer clicks on an URL and gets that
error message, the impression is that the page is invalid.
They generally do not consider the effects of their ad
blocking settings.

More on ad blocking and the hosts file:
AOL site: http://members.aol.com/ojatex/admad.htm
EDU site: http://www.csis.gvsu.edu/~rubleyr/sab/sab.html
Ad blocking software site: http://home.pages.at/atguard/Wrq/Graphic.htm


Jim Stiles



Received on Fri Oct 05 2001 - 11:34:58 CDT