When browsing online we are overwhelmed with adverts on almost all sites. If you are using a free service like Hotmail or Facebook then those adverts are what is paying for you to use that service. The advertisers pay a small fee each time the advert is shown and that generates huge profits for the service providers. It is estimated that more than 80% of the top websites rely on advertising to fund their services.
Most adverts are static pictures, but some are animated and the more complex adverts have small video clips or even simple games designed to lure you to the advertiser. This all works well for the advertisers and the service, but every one of those adverts uses a little bit of memory on your computer and the animated / video ads use a lot of processing power and bandwidth.
If you are getting annoyed by those adverts, then it’s possible to use an ad-blocking program to get rid of them. Most Ad-blockers replace the ads with empty white space, and some can replace them with images of your choice like your own photo gallery or a textured image.
This sounds like a great idea and can leave you with an ad-free experience. But… this adverting is often the only revenue stream for the service you’re using and if everyone blocks the adverts on the site, then the advertiser will not sell products.If they don’t sell any products then they will stop advertising, and then… you guessed it… the service you’re using will no longer have an income, so they will either have to charge you, the user, or they will collapse.
The bigger sites that rely on advertising are becoming wise to ad-blockers and can detect their use. In some cases, they even block visitors who use ad-blocking software. Another issue is that some ad-blocking programs can actually put quite a high load on your computer so don’t solve the original problem; and then there are some that are themselves scams and have on board malware or Trojan viruses.
Advertising is making the online world go round, and without that revenue streams you might find that your favourite websites have to start charging users, this could be things like currently free games or entertainment sites but even sites like news or weather all rely on advertising revenue to survive.
My advice: stick to the sites you know and loveand put up with a bit of advertising, safe in the knowledge that you’re helping that service survive and pay their bills.
I hope you find this information useful. If you would like to see particular subjects covered then please feel free to ask at www.alfindlay.com.
Al Findlay | Freelance IT & AV Support Consultant | Website design and Hosting |www.AlFindlay.com | 01395 542500