Click-through pricing shifted ad value from views to measured engagement
Evidence
The first new pricing metric was based on “click-through rates,” or how many times a user clicks on an ad through to the advertiser’s web page, rather than pricing based on the number of views that an ad receives. The click-through was interpreted as a signal of relevance and therefore a measure of successful targeting, operational results that derive from and reflect the value of behavioral surplus. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 258
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to broader platform-economics literature on engagement metrics as value signals. — connects to: Early internet advertising billed by views even when clicks were trackable — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 238; Google’s quality-score system tied ad placement to measured clicks — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 890; Facebook invented metrics to valorize non-clicking ad impressions as brand value — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1008 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Google’s quality-score system tied ad placement to measured clicks
#exemplifies(0.92) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 890 - Google institutionalized click-through prediction as a new science of commerce
#expands(0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 263 - Web metrics incentivized traffic and clickbait over prestige and quality
#expands(0.88) - Early internet advertising billed by views even when clicks were trackable
#corroborates(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 238 - Google’s ad-ranking innovation operationalized behavioral surplus as its core asset
#expands(0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 239 - Measuring attention as data enables treating it as a monetizable resource
#expands(0.80) - Facebook invented metrics to valorize non-clicking ad impressions as brand value
#contradicts(0.78) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1008 - Networks quantified audience attention as inventory sold by gross rating points
#complicates(0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 489 - View-based payouts reward creators who chase the broadest audience
#qualifies(0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 289