Business Today
AD-BLOCK
March 2016
11
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using ad blockers,” says Ginger Griffin, founder and principal of Ginger Griffin Marketing & Design in Cornelius. Indeed, there’s a strained but symbiotic relationship among consumers, online publishers, and marketers as online and print publications continue to evolve. Users of ad-blocking software, such as Adblock Plus, a free extension that blocks web ads and disables tracking, want fewer roadblocks and pit stops on their way to content. Whether they’re navigating via desktop, mobile browser, or mobile apps, savvy users understand that pop-ups and other ads not only interrupt content; they also slow page loading and use up data. But publishers need ad revenue to pay for content. Consumers are attracted by content, not advertising. Marketing professionals want to help clients reach customers without annoying and alienating them. To put it in social-media relationship terms: It’s complicated. “More news sites are requiring paid subscriptions to avoid pop-up ads altogether. The free sites vary as to the
degree of ads you’ll encounter. Some are quite tolerable while others are extremely irritating to the point that I, like many, just find another news source,” Griffin said. Speaking of social media, in February Facebook introduced a new menu of “reactions” to complement its seven-year-old “like” button. Not only do these emoticons provide Facebook users with a wider variety of options to respond to friends’ posts without actually commenting, they also provide advertisers with a treasure trove of marketing data when users respond to product- or service-related content. Powerful data-collection practices can lead to ads that are so hyper-targeted as to appear creepy, especially when the same pop-ups follow users as they navigate the web. Last fall, Apple responded to consumers’ concerns about overt advertising by allowing content blocking for Safari in iOS9. The Washington Post is trying a different tack. It offers readers a choice of either accepting ads or paying for a subscription. Many sites are finding ways to combat this issue. Websites have started
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blocking content to viewers who have ad-blockers installed, Griffin said. “If it means the viewers can’t access content, or that to do so requires paying for it, then they might stop using ad blockers. People are most likely to switch off their ad blocker only for their favorite or most frequently-used sites, or forgo free versions of app for paid ones. “It’s a delicate dance for both advertisers and consumers and something I think we’ll be hearing more about in the years to come,” Griffin said.
Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have brokered deals with Adblock Plus to have their ads whitelisted by default. Perhaps more than any other approach, their use of muscle highlights the armsrace mentality that typically ends in defeat for one or more sides. Then again, Google and Microsoft may be picking up on consumers’ willingness to accept a controlled amount of advertising content. A recent JP Morgan survey found that two-fifths of people are willing to whitelist ads for sites they trust.
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PROVIDING HEALTHY SMILES FOR OVER 16 YEARS DR. GUSTAFSON AND DR. CHERRY
share the same philosophy of patient care,
The UpTown Suites construction site off Weddington Road near Speedway Blvd. is on the far right. The new hotel will join the Hampton Inn and Suites, left, and the Wingate by Windham hotel, right, that already line Weddington Road.
as an area, in particular that site, we knew we had a home run,” said Pertchik. The site is located just off Weddington Road, alongside several other hotels near the intersection with Bruton Smith Boulevard. The new UpTown Suites and a new 120-room Homewood Suites are the first two hotels under construction in Cabarrus since the spring of 2010. Not including Great Wolf Lodge, occupancy was 65.5 percent for calendar year 2015. Travis Dancy, director of sales for Visit Lake Norman, said that the last
hotel that opened in the Lake Norman area was exactly five years ago. There are no plans for a new hotel at this time. Visit Lake Norman says the 20 hotels in the region overall had a 61.1 percent occupancy rate last year. “I do think we will see additional hotel growth. We’ve seen an increase in occupancy every year since 2010 and the demand is there,” said Dancy. “There is definitely a need for a full-service hotel (generally defined as a hotel with a large amount of meeting space, a food & beverage dept./restaurant and concierge service) in the market,” he said.
by taking care of you and your family at the level of commitment you deserve. We are here to provide state-of-the-art dentistry, while maximizing your dental benefits. ASK US HOW WE CAN HELP WITH A HEALTHY SMILE. C A L L 70 4 . 59 6 .0 02 1 O R V I S I T M A L L A R D C R E E K D E N T I ST RY.CO M MELISSA GUSTAFSON, D.D.S., P.A. AVA G. CHERRY, D.M.D.
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