Danish "AidOnline" ad program replaces ads on websites and causes a stir
In these days one of the biggest subjects among new media persons in Denmark is the case with "AidOnline".
AidOnline is a piece of software, not unlike the Firefox extension AdBlock Plus, which prevents ads from being shown in the browser. What's different about AidOnline is that instead of hiding ads, it replaces the ads on websites with those of its partners, 12 humanitarian organizations including The Danish division of The Red Cross. Meaning that if you're using AidOnline the ads on the websites you visit will be replaced by those of AidOnline's partners.
This practice has caused a great stir, since these advertisers leech on the traffic generated by the websites and The Association Of Danish Interactive Media (FDIM) has sought to get an injunction against AidOnline, which (if granted) will force the people behind AidOnline to close it until an investigation can conclude whether the software is against Danish regulations or not.
I myself work at ekstrabladet.dk, which is the largest online newspaper in Denmark, and since my salary is — in part — paid by the ads we can sell and show on our website, I can only condemn an initiative like AidOnline. The traffic our site generates, because of content created by people who also gets part of their paychecks from the ads, is being leeched upon by these organizations — and to make matters worse, the company behind AidOnline has secured themselves a 20 percent cut of the money generated, the rest goes to the organizations.
Adblocking users might be the real losers here
Ironic enough, the people losing in the end might be the ones using adblocking software like AdBlock Plus. Why?
Well, first of all there's a counter campaign against AidOnline at stop-aidonline.dk and they have developed a script, that blocks out users with the AidOnline software installed. A side effect, however, is that users with AdBlock Plus installed also gets banned.
This is one thing. The other, bigger, issue is that some websites will realize, that they can in fact do something against people viewing their sites using adblocking software, meaning "for free".
Depending on how this turns out, with the injunction and all, one should not be to sure that we won't see a coordinated effort against the use of adblockers. And to think, it all started because of AidOnline serving ads for, among others, The Red Cross.
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Interesting post. Sure revenue will be lost by certain media if aidonline spreads and gains volume - however lets face it how effective are banner ads and isn't time eb.dk actually embraced modern journalism and web2.0 - i would point you into the direction of the the NYT or the Guardian in the UK who are moving away from the impotent banner ad offering into useful stuff for their users(not readers) - they have even opened up their API's too - eb or other media can't blame the innovation of aidonline for their demise or job losses - more so blame yourselves for not adapting quickly enough to web2.0 and what it really means - you know the crucial point that you can't buy success you have to earn it online by doing useful good stuff - something advertisers are starting to grasp faster than you it seems - plus its for charity - these endeavours can only be a good thing - its time to innovate my friends and step up to the active communications model. However sincerly hope you don't lose your job over this - pioneer new territory and grasp the ethos of web2.0….time to move on….cheers