Ad Test Starting Today

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 8 years ago

   We are testing new unit called a native ad from Google today.  It will appear in the related hubs section.  The 520X280 that is under the related hubs will be removed during this test.  The revenue will flow through HP Ads for this unit.
   
   There are just a few publishers running this unit.  As it rolls out, it will initially show what looks like a standard text ad, but as data centers get updated, it will look very similar as an individual related hub listing with some distinctions.  It will be marked as an ad and it will have a different background color.
   
   Please let us know if you have questions.

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      janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Some explanation about "native ads" would be useful. This may help at the start : http://www.theguardian.com/media-networ … calability

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         lbrummerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Are the "native ads"  the On The Reel ads?  I notice that on my craft hubs, the same On The Reel ad is running three times in the right sidebar.  Aren't the ads supposed to be relevant?  The first five hubs on my stats page all have the same three ads running on each of the hubs.

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            colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I am seeing 3 of the same video ads running on the sidebars also.

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      paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The video ads at right are preventing the related hubs section ad from showing up in some cases, though I imagine the related hubs section ad will eventually appear if the visitor hangs around long enough.

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   Glenn Stokposted 8 years ago

   I'm glad that HubPages has received special permission from Google to test their native ad formats. It's obvious that Google appreciates how HubPages is responsive to their guidelines for quality. I look forward to seeing how well this test works for all of us.

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   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   And I just noticed that the top-of-page ad is not showing up sometimes because of the video ads at right.

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   snakeslaneposted 8 years ago

   Mine looks fine.

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   janderson99posted 8 years ago

   I can see a new ad just under the 'Related Hubs' heading. For now it appears to be a smaller version of the banner ad at the top. I think this is the new ad, rather than what appears in the right column?? My guess is that it will contain substantial text when fully implemented.

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   Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years ago

   I appreciate being told of the test. Thank you for keeping us informed.
   
   I do not like the video ads. It's good that the sound doesn't turn on automatically, but the video makes it distracting to read the hub, and there is no way to get away from it since it scrolls when you scroll down.

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      watergeekposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I totally agree. I won't even look at them, they're so annoying. Wherever I see them now I blank them out totally. I would assume others are doing the same. One wonders, then, how effective they really are.

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7. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 8 years ago

   We are just starting to see them. It will take a few hours to fully propagate.
   

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      paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I just saw the AT&T U-verse one on 2 of my hubs. Looks good!

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      Jayne Lancerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This looks very promising. Just seen one on one of my hubs. Thanks for letting us know, Paul!

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      NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Cool.

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8. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 8 years ago

   I've seen a few comments that people are seeing 3 of the same ads in the sidebar - Those aren't the native ads.
   
   That's the ad targeting from the networks we run deciding on a spot by spot basis.  I've seen it a few times as well.  The ad diversity seems to fall after I've viewed a few pages.  I don't know for sure, but I suspect that there are a few advertisers that target our inventory with bids that are independent of the impressions per session.  So, they soak up a lot of the inventory once the price falls down a bit.

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   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   Just as a side note, I hope HP surcharges the living daylights out of the video ads.

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    rebekahELLEposted 8 years ago

    They look promising.  I especially like those showing on some of my travel hubs.

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    paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

    I see that the background gray in the native ads is lighter now than it was 3 days ago (leastwise for me when I compare the above image with one of my hubs).
    
    This is just a speculative scenario. I wonder what percent of visitors see that first "hub" labeled as an ad and automatically assume all the hubs are ads. People being people, it is guaranteed the percentage is not zero. The question is whether the percentage is high enough to be something we should be concerned about. I guess only A/B testing would know for sure, version B being the ad is the middle or last "hub" instead of the first.
    
    Edit: Come to think of it, would placement in the middle actually encourage a higher click rate?

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    PegCole17posted 8 years ago

    I was just wondering if anyone else gets this pop up ad sometimes when browsing through the forums and even on the comment stream on hubs when I click on my notifications. When I try to close the page there's a message asking if I want to stay on the page. (NO!)
    
    http:// www. celebritybeautymagzine. com/exclusive/report-us.html?t202id=7878&t202kw=
    I added some spaces to avoid a real link here.

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       paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Jeez! That sucker just refuses to stay dead!
       
       HP, you can borrow this:
       
       
       
       No need to return.

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          PegCole17posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          LOL

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       Shades-of-truthposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       That ad has visited me frequently. I have posted screenshots of it in the forums. Pesky bug!
       
       We've been talking about it, here:
       http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/127110

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