NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> DoubleClick easy to confuse... Problem is static HTML
ONLINE-ADS>> DoubleClick easy to confuse... Problem is static HTML
Bob Wyman (bobwyman_at_healthgate.com)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 07:56:25 -0400
It would appear that any of the ad servers that rely on static HTML
to insert ad banners are fairly easy to confuse, especially if one is
browsing in two windows simultaneously. By "confuse" I mean that you
can click on an ad banner which is advertising one product yet get
sent to a site for some other product.
The problem is that DoubleClick, as well as a number of other
"off-site ad servers" relies on static HTML rather than server side
includes or other methods of dynamically generated HTML. This means
that the ad server needs to maintain state information and remember
which ad it most recently displayed to you so that when you click
through, it can send you to the right place. This system is most
easily confused if you have two browser windows open. The back end
can't tell the difference between the two windows and can send you to
the location advertised in your second window when you click on the
ad in the first window. (Which is what happened to me last night...)
There would appear to be other scenarios that can also cause
confusion...
Does anyone who uses the DoubleClick system, or another "static" HTML
solution, know if these vendors have any method of auditing their
results to filter out or estimate click-throughs which result from
the kind of confusion detailed above? Does anyone have any hard data
on the percentage of "bad clickthroughs" that these systems generate?
bob wyman
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HealthGate Data Corp.
<URL:http://www.healthgate.com/>
