from Hacker News

Websites using SSAI (server side ad injection)

by ressetera on 3/5/19, 1:28 AM with 73 comments

• by doctorpangloss on 3/5/19, 2:34 AM

  Before anyone thinks this is a Eureka anti-ad-blocking technology: Clearly you still need client-side javascript, distributed by the mediator, to ensure that the impression is actually delivered and the click is actually registered.

  Otherwise, obviously, the server could just maliciously record impressions/clicks.

  Then, logically, if uBlock Origin doesn't remove the ad, but does successfully remove the mediator's script, the server can never book the impression. So why waste precious bandwidth (actually INCREASING the cost of ad delivery for the publisher) delivering an ad you can never be paid for? Boggles the mind.

  Embedding the ad into the video is more akin to a native ad, which is generally understood by the advertiser to not have measurable conversion and to be strictly context (as opposed to user) targeted.

  We are going full circle--that is, back to the beginning--of ad technology.

• by fixermark on 3/5/19, 4:37 AM

  I get the distinct impression, in the war of ads vs. consumer, that some people will not be satisfied until they've submarined advertising all the way down to sponsored content and we have to go way out of our way to notice that the Try Guys are always drinking Coca-Cola or something.

• by dest on 3/5/19, 6:45 AM

  The ML algo of Adblock Radio could be used to bypass those video ads. The case of radio ads is a typical example of server-side ad injection.

  https://www.adblockradio.com https://github.com/adblockradio/adblockradio

  (Disclaimer: I built this)

• by tobyhinloopen on 3/5/19, 10:01 AM

  In the end, websites will just be server-side generated images. :D

• by diafygi on 3/5/19, 5:46 AM

  For everyone saying this ruins impression tracking, couldn't an ad-network just act as a "CDN" (e.g. client <-- Ad-CDN <-- server). They'd basically man-in-the-middle the server response and inject the ads into wherever in the html the server put the ad-tags. To the client, it would still be SSAI, but the Ad-CDN could still record impressions.

  Not that any server owner should do this (giving over control of your website ultimately to the ad-network? fuck that), but as ad-tech becomes more desperate, shouldn't these types of MITM setups get pushed more?

• by bratao on 3/5/19, 2:36 AM

  This has been talked about as an obvious evolution for the Ads Network for quite a while. Do anyone with knowledge in this area , know why is taking so long for Adsense/ Criteo come up with a solution like this?

• by RandomInteger4 on 3/5/19, 3:03 AM

  Slightly tangential, but does anyone have a good crash course intro guide to ad ops?