Comments on: NYT Starts Serving Up Intrusive Ads in Its iPhone App

By: Abe Hendin

Abe Hendin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:19:02 +0000

Old thread, adding new fury. I subscribed to the NYTimes digital plan at $15/4 weeks, and it turns out there is no way to turn off the ads in the latest iPhone app. I can’t believe it. I expect ads to come with free readers. Subscribing should result in a new option to turn them off if I don’t want to be bothered. Yes, we accept ads in static print media–they’re easy to ignore. Yes, we expect ads on cable TV, which we pay for (haven’t had that for years, so I don’t!). But I’ve grown accustomed to the model of ads in free software, ads which are eliminated in paid software. The NYTimes apparently has decided that paying folks will put up with intrusive animated pop-ups on their tiny iPhone screens, even after they implemented paid subscriptions to access content. The kicker for me was a full-screen pop-up the other day, where I had to click “Skip this Ad” to get back to the article I was in the middle of reading when it popped up. Good grief! I don’t know about others; I myself focus on article content when I read articles, and don’t appreciate visual distraction. I’ve decided to cancel my digital subscription in protest. I guess I’ll have to forego NYTimes content, I’m sorry to say. We’d like to support the Times, but not if we’re forced to interrupt our concentration all the time. Makes reading on the iPhone a real chore, instead of the acceptable annoyance that it already is due to having to scroll all the time. I’m apparently unwilling to reserve my Times reading for web browsers in which I can block ads, and will hold out hope that enough folks will complain about intrusive ads in a now paid product that the NYTimes will relent and realize that paying subscribers should be allowed to view content without ad distraction on a tiny screen!

By: uri

uri — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:54:14 +0000

deleted. nothing against ads but don't want to spend my time clicking them away. the embedded ones are (sort of) tolerable, but this is way over the top. the app slow and tends to crush too often to have engaging ads on top of that.

By: Rafat Ali

Rafat Ali — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:32:44 +0000

Thanks for your pitch Tamara. Can you name one major publisher app?

By: Tamara Gruber

Tamara Gruber — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:24:08 +0000

Not quite the first, Crisp Wireless has a few roadblock ads running with major publishers including the recently announced GI Joe campaign on Fandango's iPhone optimized site.

By: michael kremin

michael kremin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:40:48 +0000

I just checked out the ad. Yes, it takes us back to the pop-up ad days, but is quickly dismissed by touching the lower corner. I'd rather deal with that than pay for access directly.

By: gregorylent

gregorylent — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:12:37 +0000

yes, but a micro payment .. would also pay a few bucks a month to a smorgasbord of blogs and news sites .. but not a lot .. i hate ads, they are intrusive, deadening, usually of a low consciousness, and cost me time .. nyt is good, but not that good

By: Staci D. Kramer

Staci D. Kramer — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:08:18 +0000

@ gregorylent — seems like an excessive response. Would you pay for an ad-free version?

By: gregorylent

gregorylent — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:01:13 +0000

thanks for the warning, just deleted the nyt app from my iphone

By: twitter.com/iphoneadvert

twitter.com/iphoneadvert — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:40:43 +0000

I made some screeshots of the VISA campaign available on my twitter account : http://twitter.com/iphoneadvert