Advertisers & Editors: Beware Of Using Flash

Bandwidth is not free.

Comcast and other Internet providers are enforcing stiff bandwidth limits on its customers

Videos, advertisements and and other Flash graphics are bandwidth hogs and those that start automatically consume a user’s allotment regardless of whether they’re interested or not. Stiff fines await users exceeding their rations. That makes this a dollars and cents issue.

As a result,  web surfers are increasingly turning to browser plug-ins that block Flash from automatically starting. If your advertisements are completely Flash-based a viewer will see nothing of your message at all…like the image, below, from an Australian newspaper.

In addition, Flash can bog down a computer, especially mobile devices which is why Apple has banned them from iPhones and iPads. The slow-down also annoys Android users and users of more powerful laptops and desktop computers.

Because of this, if you choose to use Flash, you need to add a text description that can motivate the viewer to click on your Flash to start it.

And you better make sure the Flash is worth the user’s time, computer slow-down and the bandwidth cost.