Subprime Attention Crisis

Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet

By: Tim Hwang

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

From FSGO x Logic: a revealing examination of digital advertising and the internet's precarious foundation

In Subprime Attention Crisis, Tim Hwang investigates the way big tech financializes attention. In the process, he shows us how digital advertising - the beating heart of the internet - is at risk of collapsing, and that its potential demise bears an uncanny resemblance to the housing crisis of 2008. From the unreliability of advertising numbers and the unregulated automation of advertising bidding wars, to the simple fact that online ads mostly fail to work, Hwang demonstrates that while consumers' attention has never been more prized, the true value of that attention itself - much like subprime mortgages - is wildly misrepresented. And if online advertising goes belly-up, the internet - and its free services - will suddenly be accessible only to those who can afford it. Deeply researched, convincing, and alarming, s will change the way you look at the internet, and its precarious future.

FSG Originals × Logic dissects the way technology functions in everyday lives. The titans of Silicon Valley, for all their utopian imaginings, never really had our best interests at heart: recent threats to democracy, truth, privacy, and safety, as a result of tech's reckless pursuit of progress, have shown as much. We present an alternate story, one that delights in capturing technology in all its contradictions and innovation, across borders and socioeconomic divisions, from history through the future, beyond platitudes and PR hype, and past doom and gloom. Our collaboration features four brief but provocative forays into the tech industry's many worlds, and aspires to incite fresh conversations about technology focused on nuanced and accessible explorations of the emerging tools that reorganize and redefine life today.

©2020 Tim Hwang (P)2021 Random House Audio

Poorly thought through

Interesting bits about how real-time markets for display ads work and the existence of intermediaries and dark pools.

But the analogy to the mortgage market is tortured and all of the implications drawn from that analogy seem like they are only half thought through and some have glaring holes in the arguments.

Fine view of the Internet's economic backbone

The thesis here may not play out as conjectured (which the author acknowledges), but there is a lot of enlightening material here. The layout of internet advertising, its history, and its role in today's global economy (and in the fortunes of Alphabet/Goggle, Facebook/Meta, etc.) are bright and clear here.

Good insight into an opaque marketplace

Overall I’m walking away from this book with newfound respect for the opacity and complexity of programmatic advertising, and its bubble/speculative qualities. I found the narration hard to absorb at times, I think because the book sometimes took on an academic writing style. Other times I was totally engaged and seeing new connections. Worth the short read for anyone interested in how and whether the internet’s monetization schemes will continue.

why nobody care about it?

I tried to talk about it with a few digital marketers and a few investors. Nobody is interested in understanding the arguments that are made here. I'm terrified, and it seems I'm the only one.

Great book. I wish it says a word about the fallacy of conversion tracking or mad an advice on how to protóect your investments if the industry doesn't regulate itself. But it's a great book.

Ahead of its time!

It’s uncanny how prescient this book is. The implosion is upon us. I hope to see more from this author!