Ad blocking tool attached to Chrome may actually bring Google even more business

One out of four Canadians (or, more precisely, mobile and desktop user) have ad blockers installed, according to a report from Statista. Only Germany and India have more. 

Which is why it is interesting that Google intends  soon to announce a built-in ad-blocking tool for its popular Chrome web browser, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, relayed by the Business Insider. 

"At first, that seems a bit odd. Digital advertising is Google’s bread and butter, and reports say that Google Chrome is still by far the world’s most-used browser. So why would Google want to handicap itself?  

Well, in the long run, it may not be. The report says Google’s tool wouldn’t kill every ad, but would instead filter out “unacceptable” ads as defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group of which Google (and Facebook, the other digital ad giant) are members. The Coalition currently names auto-playing videos with sound, large ads that stick to your web page even as you scroll, prestitial ads with countdowns (i.e., those ads that make you wait a few seconds before letting you see the page), and pop-ups as examples.   

"So, in a sense, this may be Google’s attempt at getting other publishers and advertisers to do better, which would lessen the need for an ad blocker, which would mean more money in Google’s pocket."

Google may be doing away with third-party "cookies" for ad tracking

The growing digital advertising industry which, in percentage terms, is outpacing traditional print may be shaken up if Google follows through with a plan for doing away with "cookies", small snippets of text that allow advertisers to recognize users when they visit websites. According to a story in USA Today

Google, which accounts for about a third of worldwide online ad revenue, is developing an anonymous identifier for advertising, or AdID, that would replace third-party cookies as the way advertisers track people's Internet browsing activity for marketing purposes, according to a person familiar with the plan. 

The AdID would be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines, giving consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the Web, the person said, on condition of anonymity.

Google not only is the clear leader in online advertising, it also now has one of the most popular browsers, Chrome. Its major competitor, Apple and its Safari browser, has always blocked third-party cookies and had its own ad identifiers for IOS. 

"There could be concern in the industry about a system that shifts more of the benefits and control to operators like Google or Apple," said Clark Fredricksen of eMarketer, which tracks the digital ad industry. 

"Restricting third-party cookies isn't going to make relevant advertising go away; it just hands more power to big companies," said Zach Coelius, CEO of ad technology firm Triggit.

We can live with the new Apple subscription model, says Transcon CEO

Apparently, a 30% subscription commission taken by iTunes, while steep, is something that the CEO of Transcontinental Inc., Francois Olivier says his company can live with, according to what he told the Montreal Gazette. Transcontinental Media publishes the largest number of consumer magazines in Canada. The new sub model will help newspapers and magazines  make money, Olivier says.

Apple this week announced a new subscription model that will allow the sale of daily, weekly or monthly subscriptions whereas the previous iteration made subscribers buy each issue of any publication separately.

“That was one of the things that was missing in the Apple model,” Olivier said. “It was used to selling songs on iTunes piece by piece, but in the newspaper and magazine industry, the bulk of our readers are subscribing to the publications.”

Olivier said he doesn’t mind the 30 per cent cut that Apple will take off the top of any subscriptions, which has been criticized by other industry leaders as too steep. “When we sell magazines through news stands, the stores often take more than that, so it doesn’t feel like a totally unreasonable number.”

According to Advertising Age writer Nat Ives, however, many U.S. magazines are still  staying away from Apple's new iPad subscription system to protest the fact that Apple won't tell them who's subscribing through the App Store unless subscribers specifically say they can.

"Without the demographics, which iTunes won't release, the print world is castrated," said Gary Armstrong, the former Wenner Media executive who is now consulting on branded content development for media brands.That means the iPad won't help the magazine business as much as many publishers fantasized, Mr. Armstrong said. "Is it a complete failure?" he said. "No, but it's obvious it will now never be the panacea they long hoped for, and they'll have to readjust their entire business model."

Waiting and seeing may be the wisest course for publishers, since already there is competitive pressure on price that can only increase over the next few months. Google's announcement this week of a competing tablet sub system with only a 10% fee is the first of what could be many. According to the Wall Street Journal

Google said it will charge publishers 10% of revenue from sales through its One Pass service. It will let publishers set prices and give them more control over customer data.

"The publisher is the merchant of record," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt in Berlin on Wednesday. "We don't prevent you from knowing, if you're a publisher, who your customers are, like some other people" do, he said, a tacit reference to Apple.

 James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, said in the story that some publishers might sign up for the Google service purely to show Apple they aren't happy and to encourage competition. 

Google paper archives grow, with Halifax Gazette from 1753

Google has put a digitized version of the Halifax Gazette, June 2, 1753 edition online, the oldest newspaper in its growing archive. It has also put the complete archives of the granddaddy of alternative papers, the Village Voice, online, going back to 1955. Plus papers from around the world, including the Sydney Morning Herald, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, The Manila Standard and The Nation from Thailand.

Google patents customization of magazine content

Information is making the rounds that Google has received a U.S. patent on a process that would allow end users to customize magazines and have content and relevant ads delivered over the web or printed out for them at convenient kiosks similar to photo processing kiosks in drugstores and department stores.

The patent was granted to Google on November 8 and is entitled "Customization of Content and Advertisements in Publications."

Google's application pointed out its perception of shortcomings in existing print magazines, including imprecision (that is, that ads don't always work and readers sometimes find content they don't like or don't care about).

Consumers may purchase a variety of publications in various forms, e.g., print form (e.g., newspapers, magazines, books, etc.), electronic form (e.g., electronic newspapers, electronic books ("e-Books"), electronic magazines, etc.), etc. The publishers define the content of such publications, and advertisers define which advertisements (ads) may be seen in the publications. Since consumers have no control over publication content or advertisements, they may purchase a publication that contains at least some content and advertisements that may be of no interest to them.

Publishers often lack insight into the profiles of consumers who purchase their publications, and, accordingly, miss out on subscription and advertisement revenue due to a lack of personalized content and advertisements. Likewise, consumer targeting for advertisers is limited, and there is virtually no standardization for ad sizes (e.g., an ad that is supposed to be a full page may need to be reduced in size to fit within a publication). Accordingly, advertisers sometimes purchase sub-optimal or worthless ad space in an attempt to reach their target markets. Advertisers also have difficulty identifying new prospective market segments to target because they have limited insight into the desires and reactions of consumers.

There's a long road between getting a patent and realizing its potential. And other content providers and advertisers in other media besides magazines have reason to be concerned, too.

But some commentators have pointed out that, by getting the patent, Google may effectively forestall established magazines from allowing their own users to customize and receive content in print or electronically in a similar way. Either there could be a claim of copyright infringement or magazine publishers might be forced to pay Google a license fee to customize their own magazines for their own customers.

Thanks to TechCrunch.com for the report. We also saw variations and commentary in a number of other blogs and websites.