Tech firm claims ad blocker-busting widget for publishers can hide consumers’ fast forward controls
An ad tech firm has launched new technology for publishers that it claims can beat ad blockers and hide fast-forward functions to make it more difficult for consumers to avoid watching online video ads.
The ad insertion widget, called Once and made by Brightcove, also enables short or long-form ads to be placed halfway through the playing of a video – like a traditional TV ad break.
A press release from Brightcove said that the technology “eliminates ad-blockers and hides fast-forward capabilities, minimising the chance of impatient users missing advertisements and increasing revenue opportunities for customers.”
The company has also launched a new tool for managing video, called Brightcove Perform, that it claims is the fastest video player in the industry.
“Our goal is to enable our media customers to maximise reach and monetisation while providing the best possible user experience to their viewers,” said Anil Jain, SVP and MD, media group, at Brightcove.
“Integrating the core offerings of Once, the Brightcove player, and our newest product, Perform, will increase the opportunity to make video on the web and across mobile devices more profitable for publishers and more seamless for viewers.”
The new technology comes out a few months after creative luminary David Droga, the founder of ad agency Droga5, likened ad blockers to restraining orders for criminals. He also said that the need for the technology showed that consumers regard advertising as invasive.
“Bring on ad blockers,” he said at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. He also hit out at pre-roll advertising on video sites such as YouTube. “It makes me so sad. It just means that we’re nothing more than an annoyance.”
Droga said the industry needed to get better at producing inspiring work that people find entertaining and useful.
Robin Hicks
Roll on the Adblock-Blocker-Blocker.
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That’s a brilliant way for brands to interact with users and increase those positive thoughts.
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Anyone remember that film the Big Hit?
“What if they have a trace?”
“Its ok I’ve go a trace buster”
“What if they have a trace buster buster”
“Well, i’ve also got a trace buster buster buster”
Methinks people will still be avoiding the ads. Adblocker became popular because of the obnoxiousness of online ads. This is latest technology sounds even more obnoxious…..thus the cycle of escalation continues while a lot of sound fury, and memory is used to……no effect.
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Wow, these people need to be stopped. Completely misunderstanding the problem and defining a solution that nobody wants.
If brands sign up to this, all is lost!
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If I understand the technology correctly, this gets past adblockers by dynamically stitching the advertising into the video stream at the cloud level. It’s like watching a YouTube video recorded off television; the commercials are practically in the source content, not played via an adserving URL. So you can’t block this without also blocking the source video, and if the server ignores your fast-forward request, you can’t simply skip past it.
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Give it about a week and consumer-hackers will have this technology languishing in the virtual bin, where it belongs!
What will their next invention be? A new form of cancer?
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