Poll: More ads on The Excpaist - Problem solved?

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Hey guys, as most of you know, the Escapist and the Extra Credits guys are in a bit of a fight right now. You can find both sides of the story on pretty much every other thread, but it seems none of this would have been a problem if the Escapist could pay its bills. It seems that currently, this site isn't turning a profit and if they don't fix this, it's not just Extra Credits that will be out of a job.

While some of you support the site by paying for a publisher's club membership, I'm not the kind of person who will pay for that. A better solution is simple.

More ads.

Right now, I see long blue columns at the side of the screen with one ad at the top and bottom. While this looks very classy, I can image why it doesn't get the job done. Personally, I'd rather deal with more ads on the page then watch one of my favorite sites go in the crapper.

What do you think? Would you be okay with more ads? Would more ads even be a good solution? Why or why not?

 

[Erana]

Where's the "I'm already highly annoyed by the spam of ads we currently have so if they add even more I'm going to leave" option? Because that's what I'll do. I already think there's too many ads as it is. They add more and I'll just take my business elsewhere, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

But if it meant the survival of the Escapist?

Personally, I'd rather them find some sort of tangiable product to sell other than show-related merchandaise that would be a consistent income of some sort...

 

[Klumpfot]

I imagine that having more ads will lead to either an increase in the usage of software used to block them, or a (perhaps major) decline in the number of users that frequent the site. Or both. A better solution would be to monetize some of the content in some fashion.

 

[The Virgo]

If you look at most of the ads here, they are mostly for other features on The Escapist, like the Miracle of Sound, Jimquisition and the like. And I just watched the latest Zero Punctuation episode and there wasn't an ad while the older ones have ads. And I don't even have ad blocker!

Really, it doesn't take a genius to realize that they actually need to run ads for non-Escapist stuff! -_-' Methinks that their lack of funds is due to bad management.

 

[steeple]

I'm pretty sure it would just make things worse, since more and more ads mean that new-comers would be overwhelmed by it, and just go somewhere else...
that's what I think could happen, anyway...

 

[Vuliev]

I honestly wouldn't mind Escapist merchandise, and would likely buy some. If that's already the case, then disregard me because I am derp.

 

[Bobic]

Honestly I think the solution is to not hire so many damned contributors. They're struggling for money yet they keep adding loads of shows. Seriously, only hire what you can pay for guys.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

Where's the "I'm already highly annoyed by the spam of ads we currently have so if they add even more I'm going to leave" option? Because that's what I'll do. I already think there's too many ads as it is. They add more and I'll just take my business elsewhere, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

But if it meant the survival of the Escapist?

Not my problem. Escapist isn't the only gaming website on the internet. If they want to spam more ads I'll just shrug and go elsewhere. I'm not going to use a website that has so many ads I can't stand to look at it without feeling a boiling rage form.

This. inb4 guilt trips.

It's not our responsibility to ensure that The Escapist doesn't go under. Why do people forget that?

 

[LobsterFeng]

I don't see how they could possible make more ads because it's already overloaded if you ask me. Ads at the beginning of every video, ads in the captchas, ads that open when you play the video, etc. The only way to make more ads would be to make ads pop up every time you make a post...forget I said that.

 

[2xDouble]

I'm actually in favor of more ads on the escapist. I get sick of seeing the same one or two ads over and over again watching the videos, and I'd like to see larger rotations. If it gives the Escapist more money to pay their awesome contributors, then all's the better.

 

[fulano]

I'll take the ads any day. All I have to do is not click on them if they bother me.

 

[PureChaos]

they can have as many ads on the sides as they like, they can even do the add before each video as ling as they aren't too long

 

[DuplicateValue]

Not my problem. Escapist isn't the only gaming website on the internet. If they want to spam more ads I'll just shrug and go elsewhere. I'm not going to use a website that has so many ads I can't stand to look at it without feeling a boiling rage form.

If all it takes are a few ads to make you angry, you best keep away from the media in general. Go stare at a rock or something I guess...

OT: If a few ads were enough to keep the site afloat, it would be a small sacrifice. The thing is, I doubt it would. I have no idea how much revenue they actually bring in, but I imagine it would take slightly more than that to save the site.

 

[Erana]

Where's the "I'm already highly annoyed by the spam of ads we currently have so if they add even more I'm going to leave" option? Because that's what I'll do. I already think there's too many ads as it is. They add more and I'll just take my business elsewhere, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

But if it meant the survival of the Escapist?

Not my problem. Escapist isn't the only gaming website on the internet. If they want to spam more ads I'll just shrug and go elsewhere. I'm not going to use a website that has so many ads I can't stand to look at it without feeling a boiling rage form.

This. inb4 guilt trips.

It's not our responsibility to ensure that The Escapist doesn't go under. Why do people forget that?

I'm not guilt-tripping.
Nowhere did I say, "You have to stay with extra ads to support the site!" I'm just saying that if there's no other alternative and you like the Escapist content and community enough, would it really be so terrible that you'd go and leave in a huff over them?
If looking at ads freaks your eyes out or something, fine.
But so many people seem to take ads as a personal insult- a demonstration of corporate greed and will boycott something on principal.
I'm talking to these people here. The people who seem to fail to comprehend the fact that advertisements are the lifeblood of media websites like this.

Saying that the Escapist shouldn't have ads is downright ignorant. Other than the pittance they get from the merchandise store, they only have ads and the pub club (Which is people paying their part to the ad revenue for an ad-free website) to go on.
Saying the Escapist should get rid of ads is telling Themis to produce and maintain everything for free.

 

[Woodsey]

More ads are fine as long as they're well thought out. Having them on captcha's when you're trying to post a comment is just obnoxious (as are the ones that jump out and fill the entire screen).

For starters, there's a banner at the top of the home page that's used to advertise LRR instead of actually advertising something. At the bottom of the page there's a big, white blank box, and there's nothing down the borders.

Oh, and if you can't afford to pay people, don't bring new people in.

 

[teh_Canape]

A better solution would be to monetize some of the content in some fashion.

imagine this

owning a 20% of Zero Punctuation

I'm okay with ads, if it would help the site

I don't get many, or at least the amount that usually makes people rage, dunno why, since I don't use blockers or anything like that

but if it will help the Escapist, I'd gladly click some

 

[Racecar1994]

As most people have been saying, I think merchandise will be the more warmly-received option, but the problem there is that it takes money to produce the merch, which could be quite risky, given that they are already supposedly having money issues.

Adverts, of course, can be incredibly annoying (especially the ones which stop videos, much to my chagrin), but they are still probably the better option at the moment. However, If there are going to be more adverts, then I think there has to be a certain compromise, in order to make the increased amount more manageable and less overpowering.

Firstly, they should probably only be asides. This may seem kinda obvious and even harmful to the point of ads, but this is the compromise part: If you frontload adverts into people's faces, they are obviously going to feel as if the site is only interested in getting revenue and helping its business partners (not helped, unfortunately, by the publisher's club membership removing such ads). In order to avoid this, adverts should typically be in banners on the side and, of course, be optional to watch if they're videos.

The second point I have concerns making people interested in such adverts. Some of the adverts I've seen here - such as the one concerning a range rover some time ago - don't seem to be aimed at the people who would go to a gaming site. That's why I say be exclusive when picking adverts. While this may cut business options down a notch, it helps because the people who are interested in games (as is the case with almost everyone here) will take a greater interest in the adverts. Again however, you shouldn't frontload them, or the interest will be lost.

The third is concerning the publiser's club memberships. This is another way in which I can see the Escapist making greater revenue with little sacrifice. I think adding greater benefits to buying a membership will garner more interest and, of course, more people buying them. An example of this would be, say, a community newsletter spot on the site: members are able to write up articles for the community to read, rate and share. Another idea would be to allow bonuses in the games of certain business partners (which is sort of what they do anyway, but...), as this could both promote interest in being a member, and also in the game the bonus is in.

Of course, these are just ideas. I don't work in marketing nor do I have much experience running a business. With that said, though, I think these ideas might do some good, and if not, then they can simply be ignored.

 

[Scarim Coral]

No unless you imply the extra ads will encourage us to pay for the publisher's club.
The current ads can be annoying but I can tolerant it (this website is a business after all); adding more of it will only infuriate us further.

 

[lord.jeff]

I don't get people's problem with ads, most of them don't get in the way, oh no a completely ignorable ad is at the top of my screen everything is ruined, put as many as you like there I'm pretty much trained to never look at them anymore. And does it really matter if the captchas say "$up3r w4ng" or "Instant Internet" no it doesn't it's not going to ruin your day to see an ad instead of a captcha. As for ads before videos, those don't bother me much, first every site does it, and second a 20 sec ad for a five minute video, ratio of 1-15 is better then tv, 25 minute show for half hour block, ratio 1-6. Am I the only person who grow up before DVRs?

Your going to need to do more then just add ads, they also need to do some trimming, which they have already been doing recently, or maybe they left like the Extra Credits guys are doing, and whatever else can get money maybe some merchandise or a tv partnership like Zero Punctuation did on X Play a while back get some money to pay for the show and advertise the site as well.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

One word: Meebo. One more word: Cataclysm. Aw heck, have three more: Mass Effect 2. Every time TE tries to up the number of ads they have, it goes from acceptable to completely obnoxious. If they really can't fund the site with the ads, merchandise, and pub club income, they might want to look at all of the new shows they've been adding. How is it that they couldn't pay the EC guys, and yet they still added new shows after hiring them? Something just doesn't seem right here.