Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics [LWN.net]

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 2:31 UTC (Thu) by pabs (subscriber, #43278)
Parent article: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

I wonder why they don't do the obvious thing of just switching entirely to contextual advertising; base the advertisement shown on what content is on the page near/containing the advertisement.

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Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 4:55 UTC (Thu) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

The answer to that one is in the company's origin story: because stacks of generic PC hardware worked better for them than a big Digital or Sun server. Using the cheap generic option for a task means you get to keep the money that the competition is spending on the more expensive solution.

What worked for server hardware is also working for Google in the web ad market: Google can make more money by introducing ads on cheap, low-engagement sites into the same market with ads on higher-cost sites. And since no advertiser would believe audience info from a cheap, low-engagement site, the only way to make it work is with some kind of third-party tracking. It's all about commodity inputs, in this case commoditizing web content.

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 8:25 UTC (Thu) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]

Remember the time when every articles about RedHat was preceded by a banner advertising ostrich-feathered hats ?

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 12:57 UTC (Thu) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link] (2 responses)

Google can’t do that because it advertises on web sites with no obvious marketable context.

The web sites that do have an obvious marketable context don’t run Google ads, they are either merchant web sites (displaying ads for their own product, like Amazon), or run adverts by price comparators for the products most obviously associated with their context.

Google specializes on low-effect advertisement carpet bombing, with creepy tracking to reassure buyers it has some effect.

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 13:00 UTC (Thu) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454) [Link]

(also the contextual part of Google’s ad business is implemented via sponsored links in their search engine)

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 27, 2022 23:54 UTC (Thu) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75) [Link]

Google can’t do that because it advertises on web sites with no obvious marketable context.

That doesn't necessarily follow. I think the idea is to base the ads on what's on the web page, not necessarily try to sell what's on the web page. So, for example, if somebody has a web page describing their hikes, you figure out what hikers are interested in and try selling that. Maybe that's hiking equipment, but maybe people who like hiking are interested in their health, so it's a good place for ads for wellness products.

This was the traditional model of advertising. Advertisers tried to figure out what kind of people would be interested in their product and put their ads in the kinds of publications that would appeal to those people. If you bought a car magazine, it would be full of ads for cars and car accessories, but it would also include lifestyle products calculated to appeal to people who liked fancy cars. If you bought a fashion magazine, it would be full of ads for clothes, but also for perfume and cosmetics.

I think that's intended to be the goal of something like topics. The idea is that it lets ad companies figure out that people who are interested in topic foo are also interested in topics bar and baz. That way even if there aren't any obvious marketing angles related to foo, or if there are more web sites devoted to foo than there are advertisers interested in selling it, they can try selling bar and baz on foo websites.