Flash ad-supported internet

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  • nuggler

    When Steve Jobs gave us his thoughts on Flash, I thought my days were numbered as a Flash banner developer. Five years later, I'm occasionally asked to build an HTML5 unit, but for the most part, I'm still building Flash, and that’s what I see when I look at the internet on my laptop. Flash banners everywhere.

    I think that’s finally about to change. Here are my reasons; I wonder whether you agree —
    - publisher specs are starting to allow the extra k size that html creatives require
    - video codecs have better compatibility for html video across systems and browsers
    - web font subsetting techniques will allow dynamic text at acceptable k sizes
    - no longer need to support old IE, so html5 works
    - HTML5 everywhere is becoming more cost-effective due to shrinking Flash support

    I’m not as sure about these factors:
    - display advertising may catch up with the concept of responsive web design, and start running one creative in multiple sizes
    - Maybe for some reason I don’t know about, SEO or accessibility could start to matter for banner ads

    I’m trying to push my teams to go with HTML5-first for banners, and it’s still a tough sell. I’d be interested in any thoughts you have on this.

  • nuggler0

    fun topic huh

  • evilpeacock0

    The only reason I touch Flash at all these days is because the ad networks I have to deal with require it. And it has to be AS2 in Player 9. Flash Player 10.2 is usually listed as OK, but Flash dropped publishing to that version with the lowest being 10.3 so you have to stick with 9. And apparently AS3 ad implementations are too complex for them to figure out how to track, so it's unlikely that AS3 will ever be a thing with the greater Flash-based ad networks.

    So... the above specs requires using Flash Professional CS6, which isn't going to run well forever given it's been five or more years since it was new. Whenever I ask one of our ad network reps about what they think about this they have no idea what I'm talking about (they also don't seem to understand why pop-under ads are annoying). It seems that stagnation will either force them to switch or it will all just fade away.

    • I haven't done much ad banner work in the last few years but even 3 years ago, I never had a problem using AS3/Flash 9.CyBrainX
    • years ago, I spent lots of time learning AS3, only to be sent back to AS2 by ad network's requirements.... then we stopped flash work and went HTML5.....vaxorcist
  • hotroddy1

    I would imagine there is a big 'mobile first' thing happening too.

    The web design trend is to squeeze to mobile size. Maybe advertising is too.

  • monNom0

    Bigger question: is the display ad in general still relevant?

    All I see are retargeted ads for things I decided not to buy, native ad banners talking about Jennifer Lawrence's mansion, and weird vernacular-style combinations of cute blondes with conspiracy theory headlines.

    My point being: maybe that medium is just dying.

    • yeah.. those link farm articles at the bottom of new sites enticing you to click?hotroddy
    • haha...if nothing else it's like a weird form of artyuekit
    • Maybe they will be exhibited in museums someday. girlslappingass5.swfyuekit
  • mekk0

    ^ That's how I see it too. In 2015 we still handle display space as we did a printed magazine. Gross.

    I see some kind of a 2nd film trend in digital advertising right now. I hope this is an opportunity for great new formats (and hopefully a bit more cash for production)

  • utopian0

    I have not touched Flash since 2010, I am surprised that Flash has lasted this long on the web as well as the prolific penetration of mobile in recent years.

    • Maybe Adobe will finally make flash for mobile specs.monospaced
    • There is that javascript library option.CyBrainX
  • fyoucher11

    Neh, still do a ton of Flash banners. Hasn't slowed down one bit. If anything, there's more work. HTML5 just has too many restrictions and takes too long to produce when you compare to the turnaround for Flash. That ain't gonna change anytime soon. Just contracted out a 15k-40k-40k expandable banner for DoubleClick. It was complete shit compared to the Flash version at the same specs. Come to think about it, I've never seen a good HTML banner. Most sites still don't allow for the extra file size either. Some are allowing the extra file size but an overwhelming majority don't. It will at some point, but I think technology in general will change so much that it'll be completely different by the time that happens, especially when bandwidth and speed isn't a concern anymore.

    Display ads won't die out. The web of today in general (web sites and shit) will probably die out before that happens. Advertising isn't going anywhere, sites make too much loot with it and there are too many companies with big budgets for it. I believe there will be entire new medium for the internet at some point once TV and all your devices being merging to the point where it all begins to feel like one medium -- more like TV but interactive in a way that's nothing like how we interact today (think Minority Report type shit). 18 years ago, I can remember thinking one day we'll be able to watch TV on the internet, and that sounded ridiculous. I know what I said sounds ridiculous, but technology is mind-blowing these days.

    That's not to say Flash won't die out completely at some point in the near future, it certainly will -- it makes sense to. HTML5 IS a better path. But until then, gotoAndPlay(my-nutz)

  • fues0

    I just read this message on a recently approved flash ad in DoubleClick:

    By the end of 2015 Flash ads will be paused or completely unsupported for more than 80% of page views.
    To assist in your switch to HTML5 we have prepared these useful resources.

  • instrmntl0
  • dee-dubs2

    Who's made the jump from flash to HTML5 ads? If so what tools are you using to create your HTML5 ads?

    - hand coding and using JS libs like Jquery, GSAP etc for animation?
    - using tool like Google Webdesigner or Adobe EDGE, Adcade etc?
    - building in flash and converting with swiffy?

    It's an odd situation to be in knowing that Ads built in HTML5 could take longer to make and at the same time it wont be possible to achieve the same levels of animation and in all probability they will also have larger file size... yet this is the way forward for making ads.

    • Just started myself. GSAP made it very easy. Double the production time for having to QA though. Ran some tests. Thought Swiffy was the fastest by far.fyoucher1
    • Just need to figure out if Swiffy's runtime.js file gets counted towards file size on non-Google networks though.fyoucher1
    • And I eat my words above. I know. Came faster than I thought it would.fyoucher1
    • couple of test i did with swiffy - the html files were coming out at 100k more than swfdee-dubs
    • Swiffy always worked well for me, not much higher in file size than the SWF. BUT, that's not including that 120k runtime js file, which goog nets don't count.fyoucher1
  • kingsteven0

    Power consumption could be the final nail in the coffin for banner ads... last month Google and Adobe announced that Chrome will hide Flash by default.

    http://chrome.blogspot.co.uk/201…

    Get in the fucking sea!

    The fact the Flash creators went on to write a platform for energy management I always found a little ironic... A statistician/engineer I worked with came up with a figure of how much additional power consumption flash banner ads used worldwide once and it was astounding...

    • fascinating... I actually have it set to this for this very reason right nowmonospaced
    • reminds of the day when Microsoft blocked flash by defaultfues
  • fues1

    I just delivered my first batch of Edge banners.

    Apart from seriously negotiating filesize with media, a bug in uploading the ad in DoubleClick where I had to assist the traffick manager (the image folder simply didn't upload and the traffick manager told me to remake the ad, lol), the fact that I had to convert all texts to SVG because otherwise the banner would be too heavy and the fact that animation wise I feel like I am working in Flash 3 again, everything went fine folks!

    • < what made you go for Edge over Webdesigner?dee-dubs
    • Using sprite sheet as 8-bit crushed PNG for all text seems to be the best option. Dealing with fonts are a bitch.fyoucher1
    • @dee-dubs dunno, the fact that it leans a it more to AE I guess?fues
  • err2

    Im in the same boat. Ive been doing AS3/AS2 flash banners for years. I've done HTML5 banners but they take a considerable amount of time to create. I have used straight HTML5/greensock, GoogleWebDesigner, Flite, AARKI, Celtra and a few more. They all feel chinsy and temporary.

    I've been trying to push HTML5 but mostly just to display an mp4 and a CTA. My goal is to spend most the time n AE and still have some fun with CTA rollover effects.

    Unfortunately the Media serving companies are full of 20 somethings that don't even know how to copy and paste in excel properly. So getting them to modify the buys are impossible.

    • +++fues
    • < out of those if what did you feel gave you the best results, what have you stuck with?dee-dubs
  • err1

    I haven't "stuck" with anything. It still hasn't been figured out. There are no clear cut winners here yet. But. Here is what I prefer.

    1. Straight html5 with greensock. This is great for simple ads. But im not confident enough to do anything exciting. I use the other things if we need anything like gallery or video.

    2. Flite - Great features and customizable components. UI feels great, like photoshop for banners. But still a web interface. And your creative is locked in their ecosystem so you have to use them for serving. This makes it difficult to use.

    3. GWD (google) - Just OK. It can make straight html5 that you can give to sites. Pretty good components. Its really good for starting out because you can layout the ad in GWD and export the html5 to tweak outside of the web interface. The UI is horrible and clunky. The ad often gets corrupt when changing things around. SUPER Frustrating. Still feel ultra beta. But when it works it works.

    4. Everything else feels like the same shitty web UI with a different company name. They all can do the same things.

    • < yep, agreefyoucher1
    • Really like GSAP but yeah, anything other than straight tweens could be difficult without a timeline.fyoucher1
  • gabe0
  • fues0

    Bump

  • dmay1
  • dee-dubs1

    I've done a bit more reading and research on this subject since. From what I've read so far consensus seems to be preference for hand coding rather than using proprietary software, generally due to the bloat of outputted files.

    Greensock just published a very interesting article on the sudden move from flash (obviously written with a pro GSAP bias):

    http://greensock.com/html5-banne…

  • fues0

    Yup, seems there's a tsunami effect now..

  • docpoz0

    Can't you just use animated gif with an html link?

    What's this malarky?