Wasted advertising?

Those targeted advertisements seem like a waste.

I know the idea behind them is that you're advertising to someone whose browsing history shows they are interested. But I already bought your game and play it. Every time that GW2 ad pops up in the margins of some other website, I think, Anet just paid somebody to advertise to someone who already owns their product. (In the same way, I am annoyed when I buy something on Amazon and get it advertised to me for weeks afterward, as if I will go buy another one.)

I can't help wondering what percentage of the targeted advertising goes to waste, advertising to people who are already customers. After all, wouldn't it make more sense for the advertisement company, if they were really interested in generating revenue for the companies they represent, to advertise OTHER games to me that I had not already seen? But I never see ads for other games, just GW2. So I have to assume that GW2 is only getting advertised to people who already have been to Anet's website and who at least already know about GW2. Which sort of defeats the purpose of advertising.

It feels like there ought to be a better system.

Most ads are just algorithms or whatever. You seem to have interest in it based on your browsing history and searches, so they tailor it to you. I've heard people say that when they get annoyed by certain ads they go Google stuff like "I hate [thing that's being advertised" and a bunch of similar things until it stops showing up.

I've often thought about this too. I think the algorithms that determine who sees which targeted ads need a follow-up to filter out products you've probably already got. If I buy PC games on Amazon and visit the GW2 website then sure, GW2 is probably a good product to advertise to me. If I visit the website every single day (especially the forum, if they can tell that kind of detail) it's a pretty safe bet I've already got it.

I do get adverts for other games however, which I assume is a result of visiting sites related to GW2 (and Elder Scrolls Online). Mostly World of Warcraft and free browser based games, which makes it also a waste of time because I'm not going to play either of those, but that's harder for them to know.

I'm not sure it's anything Anet can fix though. They probably just pay an advertising agency to include their ads in relevant places and then it's up to that company to determine who gets which adverts. But it would probably be worth the advertising company trying to do something about it, since that's a lot of wasted adverts.

They are also cheap so that's why they use them instead of proper ads.

use adblock honey

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

I know the idea behind them is that you're advertising to someone whose browsing history shows they are interested. But I already bought your game and play it. Every time that GW2 ad pops up in the margins of some other website, I think, Anet just paid somebody to advertise to someone who already owns their product. (In the same way, I am annoyed when I buy something on Amazon and get it advertised to me for weeks afterward, as if I will go buy another one.)

I can't help wondering what percentage of the targeted advertising goes to waste, advertising to people who are already customers. After all, wouldn't it make more sense for the advertisement company, if they were really interested in generating revenue for the companies they represent, to advertise OTHER games to me that I had not already seen? But I never see ads for other games, just GW2. So I have to assume that GW2 is only getting advertised to people who already have been to Anet's website and who at least already know about GW2. Which sort of defeats the purpose of advertising.

It feels like there ought to be a better system.

Unfortunately, most people are not really excited to share information about their purchases with advertising agencies, so even when there is a single company behind both the sale and the advertisement, they can't use that to filter things out.

You see Amazon et al advertising the thing you just purchased literally because they protect your privacy: they don't share data about purchases with the advertising side, so the advertising side don't know that you bought one, just that you were super-interested in one...

WRT GW2, they are most likely targetting things like "interested in MMOs" and so forth, which the advertising systems correctly identify you as - we have concrete proof they were right that you might enjoy GW2, you own it! Again, because they don't see the purchase details (because privacy), they can't filter you out.

Overall, while it'd help out with advertising effectiveness, I think it is better that privacy is protected appropriately, etc.

(Comments reflect only my own opinions.)

You also have to consider that it serves to remind people who own the game but haven't been playing to maybe give it another shot. I don't think it's wasted really.

adblock plus, helps tons

I may be wrong but I'm fairly certain that targeted advertising in this instance isn't intuitive enough to know if you have a product or not and in some cases it doesn't differentiate if the product is usually a repeat or single purchase item e.g. a video game.It's similar to social media ads. Every time I purchase an item online, my FB ad margins are filled with the same product for a week or so. It's pointless because with most I definitely don't intend to buy another but the data behind my browsing cannot show that.

@sorudo.9054 said:adblock plus, helps tons

Agreed. I don't see any ads. Adblock and Fair Adblocker are awesome.

Adblock will intentionally not block ads by companies that pay them. Get uBlock Origin instead.

It can't tell that you own the game... it's called "retargeting". (I sell these programs)When you visit the website it cookies your browser so it shows you ads for a period of time on other sites. It's very cheap though. (a penny for dozens of impressions in some cases)I have a program now that does the same thing based on where you physically visit... we do it with satellites. If you go to a furniture store for example, I will show you ads for other furniture stores in the area. My favorite is a personal injury attorney targeting emergency room and we show his ads to people while they're in the hospital. :pensive:It's a GREAT way to advertise actually, dollar for dollar compared to many others.

Z

@Ardenwolfe.8590 said:

@sorudo.9054 said:adblock plus, helps tons

Yep--an adblocker and Noscript (for firefox), some sort of cookie cleaner like cookiErazor(Firefox) means I don't see what the OP is talking about.

I'm happy enough to see the GW2 ads. Sure it's wasted to some extent as others have said above. On the other hand I almost never buy something just because I saw it advertised (though getting the name into my head does of course have a subliminal effect when it comes time for me to want a thing like that and I begin my research into the reviews, and very rarely there will be an ad for a product I never heard of that is the coolest thing ever and I want it). So rather than having my peripheral vision assaulted by offensive flashing material (I also do my best to never look at ads longer than needed to scroll or click them away) I instead see the lovely red 2 dragon shape and feel welcomed home, as it were.

Still, it's hardly going to sell the game more to me.

And I hear you on that Amazon stuff. I browse them for more than products I want to buy from them. Sometimes I'm linking a thing for someone else, like looking for something my Mom has said she needs. Sometimes I just followed a trail of "customers also bought." And, most often, I actually bought the one thing I settled on after searching out a lot of alternatives and don't need another one. Got and installed a shower grab bar for my Mom's visit last summer, suddenly I was inundated with emails about other grab bars available. At least GW2 ads reflect an actual ongoing interest of mine.

I just ignore it