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on september 13, the post “who will regulate the crazy pop-up ads” became a hot search on weibo, with many consumers complaining bitterly in the discussion area. none of the current mainstream video platforms could escape the complaints of consumers.

pop-up ads come in all shapes and sizes and are extremely annoying

netizens' hot comments: such "innovation" will end sooner or later

when you open a mainstream long-form video website, even if you are a member, you probably can’t count how many types of advertisements you have to see while watching a drama. the advertisements start from the moment you click on the app.

the first thing you see when you open the app is the startup ad, which may be a "shake to jump" ad that catches you off guard, and you'll slip into the adware with a shake of your hand. when you enter the homepage of the video app, you'll first see a pop-up ad, an ad that says "new members get a membership discount." the homepage of the video app is also quite "noisy," with the most conspicuous top part being a variety of fancy ads, and a prominent video ad bar when you scroll down the homepage.

when you click on a tv show to start watching, you also enter the "hardest hit area" of advertising. next to the "selections" column is a jump ad. users who are not members will inevitably see a 120-second ad, and users who are members cannot avoid ads either. there are patch ads at the beginning of the main film, embedded ads in the main film, and ads can even be photoshopped into the screen.

what’s even worse is that some consumers have recently discovered that even paused videos have ads. the ads have evolved from small pop-up ads to huge ads that take up almost 80% of the screen, and the main content has been shrunk and placed in the corner. consumers who want to pause the video to see the details of the picture or the comments are extremely annoyed. “who came up with this? is it so ugly?” “it’s really terrible. how much membership do i have to recharge to get rid of these annoying things!”

however, the "innovation" of pop-up ads is not over yet. not long ago, iqiyi also disclosed an invention patent for placing ads in bullet screens, which means that bullet screens, which are originally used for users to communicate with each other, will also be occupied by ads. some netizens commented, "it's so funny, why don't you insert tv dramas in advertisements?" "just learn from the three-body problem and put ads on my retina." "from vip to vvip to svip, i wonder if i can avoid seeing ads if i become the invincible vip in the universe." "technological innovation is all about studying how to place new ads. the user experience of legitimate platforms is worse than that of pirated ones. sooner or later, they will be doomed."

internet "psoriasis" is blooming everywhere

user experience and profit model need to be balanced

relevant regulations such as the "internet pop-up information push service management regulations" and the "internet advertising management measures" all have special items for pop-up ads, requiring "ensuring one-click closure." relevant departments are also continuously increasing their governance efforts, but the opportunistic internet "psoriasis" is still repeatedly testing the edge of violations. consumers have never stopped complaining on social platforms and submitting feedback to customer service on the platform, but why can't the internet "psoriasis" be eradicated?

the platform will not ignore the users' complaints. in terms of user experience and platform revenue, the platform must first ensure its own revenue. long video platforms not only broadcast videos, but also produce high-quality content. the cost of producing content is extremely high. after all, popular content is rare. on the one hand, the platform invests in production costs, and on the other hand, there are risk costs.

in addition, long video platforms also have high copyright costs to bear. all large long video platforms spare no effort in purchasing the copyrights of high-quality content. after all, high-quality content determines the stay of users, and copyright costs are inevitably rising in the competition. take iqiyi as an example. from 2018 to 2021, iqiyi's content costs exceeded 20 billion yuan. after the proposal of reducing costs and increasing efficiency in 2021, the content cost will reach 16.5 billion yuan in 2022 and 16.2 billion yuan in 2023. the proportion of content costs to revenue will still reach 50.8% after continuous reduction. after the increase in member users slowed down or even entered a bottleneck period, advertising became an important source of income, and there was a certain conflict between advertising revenue and member revenue, because one of the important reasons for users to open membership is to watch the feature content directly without watching advertisements. this also prompted the platform to start "innovating" more varied advertising forms to expand the source of advertising revenue, which will inevitably lead to a decline in user experience. however, the pirated platforms that do not bear the risks and costs of content production are reaping the benefits. the pirated platforms' fewer advertisements, higher-definition picture quality, and better user experience have attracted users who are fed up with the advertisements on the legitimate platforms, causing some users to abandon the legitimate products and turn to pirated ones. this will eventually become a vicious cycle.

it is difficult for long video platforms to survive without sustainable commercial profits, but excessive sacrifice of user experience and infringement of user rights will cause users to abandon the platforms. it is still necessary to explore a balance that satisfies everyone between better user experience services and sustainable commercial profits.

yangzi evening news/ziniu news reporter shen zhao

proofread by sheng yuanyuan