I was reading The Age over breakfast this morning, enjoying my coffee and had just begun a really interesting article when a man appeared out of nowhere and began yelling in my ear. I turned the page. Read an article. Turned the page and began another when the same man appeared and began yelling in my ear again. It wasn’t long before I stopped reading the paper and turned elsewhere to get my news.
Okay. That’s not so subtle all clever but it pretty much describes what its like trying to read www.theage.com.au these days. It seems almost every page now has video or audio that starts automatically or a video ad will pop out and start playing as you try to read. It’s just ridiculous that someone at the The Age seems to think this is a good idea.
They have also allowed ads that expand and obscure the article you are trying to read. Come on – there’s two reactions to this. One is immediately click Close on the ad, which means no one sees the ad, or the other choice is to hit the back button to find a different site where you can get the same information, and this means no one sees the ad and you loose site traffic.
I know times are tough in the newspaper industry but actively going out of your way to irritate and frustrate your last loyal readers is only going to make things worse.