"High Impact" Indeed

by Amy Seeburger, Media Supervisor

At a time when the annoyance level with the invasiveness of online advertising is at an all time high, it seems poor logic to increase the size of ad units – effectively marginalizing content (ahem, the reason the users are there in the first place?). With some high profile content providers on board as well as the IAB, one would assume there was some sort of legitimate strategy behind it, and there is. Unfortunately, that strategy is the swan song of digital content monetization as we know it.


An infinite increase in online inventory supply paired with waning growth in spending against online banner programs has led to serious problems for content providers – hence the shift from user/consumer focused site content management to advertiser focused solutions. I can imagine there will be a short novelty burst of success for these monster ad units (referred to as ‘high impact’). However, at the end of the day, users will be alienated, annoyed, bitter, and eventually abandon sites for greener, less noisy pastures.