Showing posts with label ads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ads. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Monday, 28 July 2008
Not gritting my teeth
So the Škoda is now on Australian shores.
I prefer the British version:
Sand doesn't taste that good.
I prefer the British version:
Sand doesn't taste that good.
Friday, 27 April 2007
Rip, rip, woodchip
When The Shadow described saying no to the "poor, hapless critters" holding out Sydney's free newpaper mX, I had the idea that they were more pushy than their London equivalents. Now it has been revealed that thelondonpaper distributors don't need to be pushy, as they just dump the excess papers in gutters or bins, bumping up circulation figures.
Video footage of papers being dumped was shown on tv news the other night (also on YouTube), having been released by Associated Newspapers, the publishers of thelondonpaper's rivals, the Metro and London Lite. News International, thelondonpaper's publisher's parent company*, retaliated with pictures of London Lite being abandoned, seriously bringing into question the use of flooding the capital with 900,000 free afternoon papers each day.
It is an utter waste of paper, even if in one case the dumper deposited his unread rags in a recycling bin. The freesheets' certified circulation figures, based on the number of paper's distributed, and quite important to them, as they draw in the advertising revenue. So thelondonpaper's relatively recent increase of 100,000 in print run size probably has benefited them if not any readers or the environment.
I have to wonder at the logic behind using these sort of circulation figures, though. I don't commute, but in my experience when traveling on the tube or bus there are often free papers lying around, waiting to be picked up. I would think each paper is read more than once. There definitely isn't a need for more copies.
*Murdoch's News International is also the parent company of the publishers of The Times, in which the reasonably fair article I linked to appeared in. Not what you'd expect from some Murdoch papers. Then again, it was funny to see the issue discussed next to an ad for thelondonpaper.com.
Video footage of papers being dumped was shown on tv news the other night (also on YouTube), having been released by Associated Newspapers, the publishers of thelondonpaper's rivals, the Metro and London Lite. News International, thelondonpaper's publisher's parent company*, retaliated with pictures of London Lite being abandoned, seriously bringing into question the use of flooding the capital with 900,000 free afternoon papers each day.
It is an utter waste of paper, even if in one case the dumper deposited his unread rags in a recycling bin. The freesheets' certified circulation figures, based on the number of paper's distributed, and quite important to them, as they draw in the advertising revenue. So thelondonpaper's relatively recent increase of 100,000 in print run size probably has benefited them if not any readers or the environment.
I have to wonder at the logic behind using these sort of circulation figures, though. I don't commute, but in my experience when traveling on the tube or bus there are often free papers lying around, waiting to be picked up. I would think each paper is read more than once. There definitely isn't a need for more copies.
*Murdoch's News International is also the parent company of the publishers of The Times, in which the reasonably fair article I linked to appeared in. Not what you'd expect from some Murdoch papers. Then again, it was funny to see the issue discussed next to an ad for thelondonpaper.com.
Thursday, 8 March 2007
Targeted at what?
Google places "relevant" ads next to just about anything using it's AdSense, a "content-targeted advertising program". You can even choose to have ads on your blog, with Google supposedly choosing the most relevant ads for your readers.
I don't think I'd make any money out of it, but I'm curious enough to be tempted to put the ads on here just to see what sort of things the program would come up with. It can be quite funny to look at the ads it chooses. Yesterday for some vague reason, I sent an email from my googlemail address. It included some Chinese characters, and Google started giving me all sorts links to sites in Chinese.
Today I received a reply which included a mention of someone who has just moved to Sydney. What ads does Google decide on? Firstly, an ad for "100% Australian Ugg boots", with express delivery worldwide. Then, a slightly more relevant cheap phone calls to Sydney ad. Lastly, an ad for aNewLifeInSydney.com, with the words "Sydney needs 50,000 people now. Start your new life today!", which struck me as quite strange. I'm not so worried about Sydney's population that I'd discourage immigrants, but how does Sydney need 50,000 people?
I don't think I'd make any money out of it, but I'm curious enough to be tempted to put the ads on here just to see what sort of things the program would come up with. It can be quite funny to look at the ads it chooses. Yesterday for some vague reason, I sent an email from my googlemail address. It included some Chinese characters, and Google started giving me all sorts links to sites in Chinese.
Today I received a reply which included a mention of someone who has just moved to Sydney. What ads does Google decide on? Firstly, an ad for "100% Australian Ugg boots", with express delivery worldwide. Then, a slightly more relevant cheap phone calls to Sydney ad. Lastly, an ad for aNewLifeInSydney.com, with the words "Sydney needs 50,000 people now. Start your new life today!", which struck me as quite strange. I'm not so worried about Sydney's population that I'd discourage immigrants, but how does Sydney need 50,000 people?
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