This seems to fit the narrative of a broader wave of consolidation hitting the old-school web.
Like it or not, there are real advantages to walled gardens like facebook. To ad buyers, it's a single platform where one can target the entire world person-by-person -- even across multiple devices (iPad, phone, laptop), with hyper-accurate segmentation and user tracking, strong identity services with all the abuse/spam prevention and payment capability that enables, multi-lingual, optimized CDN-based distribution to ensure all content is fast and cheaply delivered to every corner of the globe (an especially big deal given the rise of video ads), mobile-first UX that works across every conceivable handset including iOS and every esoteric variant of Android, etc.
I'm not pleased about a lot of this, but it's a mistake to deny what's happening.
You don't need a walled garden for that. You would need some client-side listeners.
Walled gardens arise because our legal system incentivizes it. Network effects are unnatural online. There is no barrier to access or information flow here -- put simply, there are no real walls to protect the garden. They're all artificially imposed barriers.
With improved laws, no one would be able to hold the web-accessible data hostage, and competition would be based on consumer-facing concerns like user experience and customer service.
Until we get to that point, which makes up the foundation of all competition in the physical world, the potential of the internet will continue to be squandered. It's very important to wake people up to these issues, since no one really seems to discuss them.
Whenever I noticed that a site I'm visiting is "powered" by DECK, I was whitelisting it in the adblock. I hate ads, but I totally get that they keep things going in the Net, and so if there have to be ads they should be like the DECK: no tracking, no profiling, no being invasive. It's really a shame that an opposite of that triumphs today. In the long term it's gonna be painful for the users, for publishers, for the net, for advertisers as well. Probably for everyone, except for Facebook and Apple.
They - and Carbon Ads (mentioned below) to a lesser extent - had ads which were actually interesting to me. In a way computer-chosen ads (Google Adwords) never seem to be.
The fact there was no tracking so the same ad didn't follow me around, and wasn't tailored due to my web browsing history made them far more interesting, because they exposed me to new services.
That (for me) is the major annoyance of retargeting in particular. Just because I've looked at something once I'm shown ads; they can't determine whether I looked at it or I'm interested in it.
I'm curious what you think of my ad network[1] -- it allows for native ads that are non-intrusive and actually benefit the user. When you hover over an item in an image, an ad is displayed, but hovering off of it makes it go away.
I really liked the deck - it was one of the few ad networks I actually wanted to get on my site. They had both really high quality ads, and really high quality publishers.
This is also a pretty big blow to the publishers - they'll feel the revenue loss, and there isn't an equivalent network to take their place. I'm sure they'll find something though.
Shame to hear this... although I guess there is less demand now with hyper-targeted invasive social ads. Working with The Deck previously, Jim was always such a pleasure to deal with and it felt a lot more personal as a network vs. Google or the big social networks. RIP.
> In 2014, display advertisers started concentrating on large, walled, social networks. The indie “blogosphere” was disappearing. Mobile impressions, which produce significantly fewer clicks and engagements, began to really dominate the market
There was a recent discussion on HN about how difficult it is to promote a blog now (compared to a few years ago). I think this statement by Deck further emphasises the fact that independent blogs are seeing a decline in readership.
This is sad. I based my idea for a free software friendly ad network on this, and pitched it back in 2009. It became AdBard, and for a while it was quite popular in the free software space.
The sheer number of tools display networks have at their fingertips to try to unlock value from your visitor's eyeballs are astounding - RTB exchanges / re-targeting / user profiling / etc / etc.
And even with all of that most content producers can't make a living off of their cut.
I always loved the simplicity of The Deck, but their end was inevitable.
Yup. Reading their post, it appears they didn't want to play the contemporary adtech game because it felt scummy, so they became unprofitable and quit.
I wonder how much their content providers moving over to platforms like Medium hurt their business? Aside from the fact so few people are clicking on traditional display ads anymore.
We really shouldn't be looking down on this business. They managed to outlive a TON of companies (10 years is great on the internet), and I'm sure provided livelihoods for a fair number of people both at Coudal and their partner blogs who they were monetizing. Kudos to them!
It seemed like a straight-forward business with little overhead considering there wasn't anything invasive or highly technical about the advertising units.
Is there a market for that type of advertising online?
Could anyone in the know comment on whether their invite-only nature contributed to this? I have wanted to have Deck Network ads on my sites forever, but there was no real way to do so. They seemed to be restricted to inviting only Apple-themed blogs and sites, plus maybe their peripheral network.
I wonder if having a somewhat more clear and easy vetting process would have helped expand their reach somewhat.
Anyone have recommendations for video ad providers? I would like to embed ads to play before a stream starts, but would also like to do it in the most ethical way possible.
Was The Deck still invite only and if so can someone explain the value in that? That elitism could be a selling point, but if you are charging monthly, it just seems a turn off for expansion because they won't grow with you but only come in when you are established.
[+] [-] eldavido|9 years ago|reply
Like it or not, there are real advantages to walled gardens like facebook. To ad buyers, it's a single platform where one can target the entire world person-by-person -- even across multiple devices (iPad, phone, laptop), with hyper-accurate segmentation and user tracking, strong identity services with all the abuse/spam prevention and payment capability that enables, multi-lingual, optimized CDN-based distribution to ensure all content is fast and cheaply delivered to every corner of the globe (an especially big deal given the rise of video ads), mobile-first UX that works across every conceivable handset including iOS and every esoteric variant of Android, etc.
I'm not pleased about a lot of this, but it's a mistake to deny what's happening.
[+] [-] cookiecaper|9 years ago|reply
Walled gardens arise because our legal system incentivizes it. Network effects are unnatural online. There is no barrier to access or information flow here -- put simply, there are no real walls to protect the garden. They're all artificially imposed barriers.
With improved laws, no one would be able to hold the web-accessible data hostage, and competition would be based on consumer-facing concerns like user experience and customer service.
Until we get to that point, which makes up the foundation of all competition in the physical world, the potential of the internet will continue to be squandered. It's very important to wake people up to these issues, since no one really seems to discuss them.
[+] [-] TIMECUB3|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bgarbiak|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbowyer|9 years ago|reply
The fact there was no tracking so the same ad didn't follow me around, and wasn't tailored due to my web browsing history made them far more interesting, because they exposed me to new services.
That (for me) is the major annoyance of retargeting in particular. Just because I've looked at something once I'm shown ads; they can't determine whether I looked at it or I'm interested in it.
[+] [-] bazillion|9 years ago|reply
Here is an example video showing that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_oTtDUV0yI
Although the ads aren't blocked by ad blockers, if they were, would you unblock them? Also would love any feedback!
[1] http://pleenq.com
[+] [-] puranjay|9 years ago|reply
That was probably the first time in recent memory that I've clicked on an ad
So hey, the model at least works.
[+] [-] wkoszek|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JusticeJuice|9 years ago|reply
I really liked the deck - it was one of the few ad networks I actually wanted to get on my site. They had both really high quality ads, and really high quality publishers.
This is also a pretty big blow to the publishers - they'll feel the revenue loss, and there isn't an equivalent network to take their place. I'm sure they'll find something though.
[+] [-] beaconstudios|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] forsaken|9 years ago|reply
We don't have nearly as much mobile traffic (only ~6%), so hopefully we will be able to make it work, but this doesn't fill me with confidence.
[+] [-] toddynho|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NelsonMinar|9 years ago|reply
So did Waxy: https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/847188783724322816
[+] [-] pkamb|9 years ago|reply
http://swabthe.com/
[+] [-] jgruber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iiiggglll|9 years ago|reply
Damn, that is a hilarious parody.
[+] [-] ummjackson|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ollieco|9 years ago|reply
There was a recent discussion on HN about how difficult it is to promote a blog now (compared to a few years ago). I think this statement by Deck further emphasises the fact that independent blogs are seeing a decline in readership.
[+] [-] mattl|9 years ago|reply
http://www.fsf.org/news/ad-bard
A big problem for free software sites is finding ads that respect the users freedom while promoting products which are not harmful to computer users.
[+] [-] aresant|9 years ago|reply
The sheer number of tools display networks have at their fingertips to try to unlock value from your visitor's eyeballs are astounding - RTB exchanges / re-targeting / user profiling / etc / etc.
And even with all of that most content producers can't make a living off of their cut.
I always loved the simplicity of The Deck, but their end was inevitable.
[+] [-] jonathankoren|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] code4tee|9 years ago|reply
More seriously, sad to see them go but this does reflect the reality of a market shift in this space.
[+] [-] th0ma5|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brianbreslin|9 years ago|reply
We really shouldn't be looking down on this business. They managed to outlive a TON of companies (10 years is great on the internet), and I'm sure provided livelihoods for a fair number of people both at Coudal and their partner blogs who they were monetizing. Kudos to them!
[+] [-] pgrote|9 years ago|reply
It seemed like a straight-forward business with little overhead considering there wasn't anything invasive or highly technical about the advertising units.
Is there a market for that type of advertising online?
[+] [-] draw_down|9 years ago|reply
Seems short-sighted! And, also, an indication of where things are today.
[+] [-] parennoob|9 years ago|reply
I wonder if having a somewhat more clear and easy vetting process would have helped expand their reach somewhat.
[+] [-] livestyle|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mxuribe|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slackoverflower|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tinkerdol|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] protomyth|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tambourine_man|9 years ago|reply