Dim bulbs

They warned us back in March that advertisements on newspaper sites would get more annoying to get our attention. Yesterday, the New York Times and BMW had a doozy, with an ad that turned down the lights on the computer screen. When readers investigated the cause of the disruption, they discovered, unfortunately, a BMW ad.

The two companies seem thrilled with the results. Some readers offered a different assessment. From MediaPost Publications:

"BMW was looking for a new, never-been-done-before idea to launch their new Advanced Diesel Online Technology online," explained Times spokesperson Stacy Green. "What we developed was a unique and never-before-done execution on our site." ...

But if Twitter is any barometer of public reaction to the effort, annoyance and anger trumped awe and appreciation. "Big thumbs down to @nytimes for running a BMW ad which darkens the screen, with no apparent/easy way to disable the ad," complained lx69 in one tweet. "That BMW ad on the NYTimes.com home page? Super-annoying," wrote lseward, in another.

Expect more and worse to come.

(via Nieman Lab)

The pushdown

The Silicon Alley Insider previews some of the ugly ads the New York Times and other big publishers plan to annoy us with. They look a lot like the annoying ads you see on other websites - big ads taking up a third of the screen, pushdown ads that unfurl from the top of the screen, etc.

It's going to get uglier

Some of the biggest news sites plan to boost the annoyance factor of online ads to boost online revenues. From the LA Times:

The Online Publishers Assn. on Tuesday released several new in-your-face advertising formats designed to be both more obtrusive and interactive.

Twenty-seven top Internet publishers -- including the New York Times, CNN, CBS Interactive, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal -- say they'll try the supersize ads in an attempt to get the attention of Web surfers who have learned to ignore banners.

Cuts in Bakersfield

The Bakersfield Californian today cut 25 employees "as a last resort to bring our financial house in order." LA Observed has the memo.