Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics [LWN.net]

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 28, 2022 8:12 UTC (Fri) by JanC_ (subscriber, #34940)
In reply to: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics by felixfix
Parent article: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Interesting data-point: when the GDPR was introduced, the NYT switched from tracking-based ads to context-based & geographical-based advertising for EU visitors… and saw its ad revenue from those visitors increase.

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Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 28, 2022 11:08 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] (3 responses)

But that's only natural: if ads have become less effective them advertisers would need more of them to get the same sales.

It's precisely the same story as with TV ads: TV networks were getting lots of money from ads because they were less effective than ads in the Internet!

Of course after advertisers realized what's happening they moved ads from TV to the Internet. Which made ads in the Internet less lucrative thus some ads remained on TV.

GDPR reversed that trend and turned NYT into TV-of-sorts… of course this should introduce jump in revenues… till advertisers would realize what's happening and move ads elsewhere.

NYT is probably big and important enough to retain some advertisers, but small web sites may end up with no ads (and no income) at all if they would do something like that.

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 28, 2022 12:17 UTC (Fri) by laarmen (subscriber, #63948) [Link] (2 responses)

Can we really draw any conclusion from the available data? An increase in revenue might mean an increase in views, but could also mean an increase in click conversion, as those *can* be measured and billed, contrary to TV-ads which are solely based on views.

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 28, 2022 16:15 UTC (Fri) by JanC_ (subscriber, #34940) [Link]

Also, NYT was then selling those ads directly, instead of through a broker, so they cut out a middle man, I suppose…

Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

Posted Jan 28, 2022 17:00 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

> as those *can* be measured and billed, contrary to TV-ads which are solely based on views.

Not anymore. They stopped serving targeted ads because they don't want to deal with GDPR requirements. I don't think they would want to bring these [potential] liabilities back just to get these numbers.