Caring more about us, the targets, would go a long way to improve advertising efficiency on the web, and reduce fraud.

Sir, John Gapper describes some tip of icebergs in the word of online advertising “Regulators are failing to block fraudulent ads”, February 3.

But I also assume that those paying for the ads do not pay, or stop the advertising, if the ads fail to translate into profits.

We, the targets, we used to be hit with some few advertising bullets while reading a paper, looking at TV or listening to radio… now, on the web, more and more we are hit with thousand of ad pellets, which give very little consideration to the physical limits of our attention span. If the computer has a malware that keeps it reading ads while I sleep I don’t care… but when I sit there and try to use the web for its original purposes the ads are really getting into my way and into my nerves.

What could be done about it? I have suggested the advertisers, with the help of ad-blockers, take contact directly with us the targets. I am sure we could work something out. I my case I have offered to hire out my very scarce attention span for 30 seconds against the low price of US$ 1… initially!

@PerKurowski ©

The most forceful adblocker is the limited attention span available… and here is an offer on how you can access mine

Sir, Matthew Garrahan, Hannah Kuchler and Robert Cookson write “the latest adblocking software, and programs already available on PCs and laptops, could have ruinous implications for the companies that rely on digital advertising, such as online publishers” “Adblocking threat to marketing industry grows” October 6.

I am perfectly fine with any advertiser who simply tags on a Twitter, Google or Facebook and gets paid for it even if I were bothered is put out of business. We need smart adblocking on our telephone lines too.

But the fact is that the biggest adblocker of them all, is time. There is just so many hours and minutes available per day. And so the whole adblocking technology, instead of being considered a threat, should be good news for the ad industry, since it will permit to separate the good from the bad.

And, since we on the receiving end are in fact the most important participants in all this, let me take this opportunity to once again remind the industry of my offer:

Anyone who following my personal copyrighted preferences feels he has a very special message to me, could begin by paying me a token of good faith, for instance 1US$. If so, I guarantee him the access to my fully devoted attention span, during 30 seconds. For your information my adblocker will be receiving a percentage to be agreed upon of my revenues, and so that it also has an interest in maximizing these.

This is going to be fun.

PS. I just went out to my mailbox. I will need an adblocker there too. My ordinary mail does not fit any longer.

@PerKurowski © J

They pay just 0.0025 to 0.02 cents of a dollar per advert to reach me online? No way! I am worth much more!

Sir, I refer to Tim Harford’s “Online ads: log in, tune out, turn off” April 4. It contains some very enlightening data for someone not in the business of targeting ads but only being a target of ads. Harford mentions that the rate for cheap advert may be as low 25 cents of a dollar per 1000 views, while good adverts may pay the publisher 2 dollars per 1000 view.

So that means that someone reaching me with a cheap advert pays for that 1/40th of a cent of a dollar while someone reaching me with a good advert pays 1/5th of a cent of a dollar. What a shocker, I thought getting my attention span was worth more than that. De facto I am a Mechanical Turk working at the receiving end. Not only do I perceive any income for that, zero salary, but, to add insult to injury, they are valuing the access to my attention span at ridiculous low rates.

It is clear that I urgently need someone to develop an App that will only allow ads that produces me an income of X dollars per hour of my attention span to reach me. The provider of that service, in charge of collecting my earnings, would have to work on a commission basis, so that I can be sure we are both targeting the same end results.

Since now and again I would wish to see a little of what is available in the cheap advert markets, occasionally I authorize allotting some of my valuable attention span, on a pro-bono basis.

PS. That X dollars per hour of my attention span will fluctuate according to market conditions.

@PerKurowski