How Are We Supposed to Make Money on the Internet Now?

How Are We Supposed to Make Money on the Internet Now?

FacebookLinkedInTwitter

For most, the release of Apple’s iOS9 was a welcome development. From new ways to multitask to novel ways to befuddle Siri, there is plenty to love in the mobile operating system. Unless, of course, your business happens to rely on mobile advertising. Then iOS9 essentially signaled the ad-pocalypse. For the first time, the new iOS enables programmers to create apps that block ads within the Safari mobile browser.

image.0 copy

The International Business Times was especially alarmist with their headline, Apple iOS 9 Ad Blockers Pose Big Threat To Google, Facebook And Twitter. In other words, the Internet is, apparently, about to be over. Citing Michael Nathanson of MoffitNathanson, author Christopher Zara explains, “Mobile ad blockers could put almost a third of Google’s revenue at risk, compared with 29 percent of Facebook’s revenue and only 14 percent of Twitter’s revenue.”

Ad blocking on the Internet has been around for a long time. But now mighty Apple appears to be tacitly endorsing ad blocking as a legitimate consumer choice. With mobile ads comprising the primary revenue source for many sites and apps, lots of folks are understandably running scared.

King's_carriage_leaving_Longchamps_with_Loubet_and_King_Edward

Innovation is not without casualties. What Henry Ford did to carriage makers Tesla hopes to do to Jiffy Lube. This raises the question of whether advertising is really that great of a business model anyway? What worked for Don Draper on the small screen doesn’t necessarily thrive in cyberspace. If the New York Times couldn’t support its business with advertising and switched to a digital subscription model, should other companies predicate their existence on such a precarious foundation? Rather than bemoan ad blockers, perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board and get serious about business strategy. Then again, this 2015 PageFair/Adobe report appears to show about 15% of US Internet users have taken to ad blocking, so reports of ad blocking breaking the Internet may be a bit premature. Scruples aside, if these ad lovers leave their passwords as “123456” and “password,” there’s some real money to be made.

Now It’s Your Turn
FacebookLinkedInTwitter

Brand Strategy, Brands, Product Positioning, Strategic Branding
Is Swag Dead?

(As featured in Fast Company) We’ve all been there. You come home from that conference, meeting, or seminar with a head full of great ideas—and a bag full of branded merchandise. At first, it seems like you’ll definitely be using that pen, stress ball, or flashlight but as it migrates into a desk drawer filled […]

Learn More
Culture, Insurance, News, Trends
The Impact of Generative AI on the Insurance Sector

As seen in DIG-IN.com As new technologies continue to evolve and come online for the business world, so too do their iterations in the insurance sector. Recently many new tools have been developed which are designed to manage risk, minimize uncertainty and generate profits, boosting productivity and efficiency within the sector. Developments such as the […]

Learn More
Brand Strategy, Corporate Culture, Design, Identity Design
The Matter of Taste

As seen in Fast Company Whether apocryphal or not, the purported last words of bon vivant, tastemaker and wit Oscar Wilde were, “This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go.” But what is taste and how does one overcome the pernicious dynamic that when people lack taste they are unlikely to have […]

Learn More
Brand Strategy, Corporate Culture, Corporate Responsibility, Organizational Development
Insurers at the Front Lines of Climate Change

As seen in Dig-in.com. Insurance companies are often on the losing end of climate change, paying out increasingly exorbitant sums as extreme weather such as tornadoes, floods and fires damage property, agriculture and businesses. But flipping the perspective for a moment, can insurance companies take active measures to mitigate the risks of climate change? Insurance […]

Learn More

Ready to talk about how your brand and culture can do more for your business?

Let's talk
Let's talk