Ads need change

I've been thinking about ads the last couple months.

It's no secret that most publishers are straining under the system of relying on ad revenue. Newspapers being the canonical example.

There's also big problems with ads that they have become background clutter that we mainly want to ignore (and a growing number of people actively block).

So - ads need to change if they are going to become more effective and less annoying. Actually, they already are, but there has to be lots more change to come.

I've seen it said elsewhere, and agree, that there needs to be less ads. The more ads there are, the less effective they become.

I really think that ads can be useful. When they are done right, an ad is just making you aware of a product (or brand) that you might be interested in.

Targeting, of course, is already and will continue to make a huge difference. The better job the ad system does of showing me the types of ads that I want to see, the better chance I'll be happy with it. No secret that this is Google's success given that they show you ads based on what you're searching for; the search is essentially telling Google pretty explicitly what you are interested in (they have to do *some* guessing of course).

I think also that ad units need to change. They simultaneously have to be less intrusive up front, but also need to be more engaging and interactive. Over time, ads may move away from what we think of as ads today. The reality is that an ad is just sponsored content delivered alongside other content that interests you (with the hope that the sponsored content will also interest you).

One innovation I think is lacking so far, and potentially disruptive, is thinking about ads as first class objects. Giving the user the ability to manage *when* they interact with an ad, and do things like share, is an interesting dynamic. While targeting provides and answer to the "what" and maybe "where" of displaying an ad, giving the user more control could bring in the crucial "when" to the equation.