Poll: More ads on The Excpaist - Problem solved?

[StBishop]

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.

You are derp. Now go over to the Escapist's Store at Split Reason and buy some swag. Maybe even a shirt which will illustrate your love of Charismatic Stallions to others. Or perhaps your status as one. Which ever seems more plausible to you.

 

[lacktheknack]

I wouldn't mind, but they're trying to pay for:

-Lots of contributed content
-Salaries for a good-sized permanent staff
-Server maintenance
-Webspace

...all on merchandise and ad revenue. (I don't count Pub Club memberships, as I'm assuming those things cost their worth in ads.) More ads would help, but seeing as their finances are apparently fourteen months behind (how long it took to pay one contributor), they need some MAJOR financial intervention right about now.

I'd say that merchandise is their only hope, except the one thing I've learned in my time here is that gamers generally are some of the cheapest bastards in existence.

I honestly don't know how much longer the Escapist can keep going like this. I wouldn't be surprised if March is the only month they really turn a profit.

 

[beefpelican]

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

Word. The escapist has better, more thoughtful content than any other gaming site out there. Ads are easy to ignore, and I like me my Extra Credits.

 

[Lenin211]

I would be okay with more ads so long as they are not those awful popup ones that take up half of the monitor.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

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.

I second this! Besides I don't think they know how to deal with the money they have, nevermind what to do if they get any more.
And I don't care if it does mean the survival of the Escapist, I fucking HATE advertising! I hate have ads shoved down my throat. I'd rather see the Escapist die than have to put up with any more than I already do.

 

[StBishop]

I wouldn't mind, but they're trying to pay for:

-Lots of contributed content
-Salaries for a good-sized permanent staff
-Server maintenance
-Webspace

...all on merchandise and ad revenue. (I don't count Pub Club memberships, as I'm assuming those things cost their worth in ads.) More ads would help, but seeing as their finances are apparently fourteen months behind (how long it took to pay one contributor), they need some MAJOR financial intervention right about now.

I'd say that merchandise is their only hope, except the one thing I've learned in my time here is that gamers generally are some of the cheapest bastards in existence.

I honestly don't know how much longer the Escapist can keep going like this. I wouldn't be surprised if March is the only month they really turn a profit.

To be honest you have a point. The easiest way to generate traffic (and therefore revenue) it to hold fun competitions, like MM, where the only winners are games/game characters/game developers. I'm aware that people win shit in MM but that's not why I participate. I do it for the love of my favourite devs.

If they held similar vote based comps more regularly they could easily generate more traffic.

What about a similar competition for worst publisher (although they couldn't do that, because it's not only rude, but possibly slanderous) or best FPS hero, Best RPG hero, best platformer hero etc.

This is genius. Someone do it.

 

[souper soup guy]

I'd be fine with more adds, but I'm not sure how much more revenue that would actually get the escapist. Still, the people here do good work, and if they could get a little bit more money I'd be all for that.

 

[lacktheknack]

I wouldn't mind, but they're trying to pay for:

-Lots of contributed content
-Salaries for a good-sized permanent staff
-Server maintenance
-Webspace

...all on merchandise and ad revenue. (I don't count Pub Club memberships, as I'm assuming those things cost their worth in ads.) More ads would help, but seeing as their finances are apparently fourteen months behind (how long it took to pay one contributor), they need some MAJOR financial intervention right about now.

I'd say that merchandise is their only hope, except the one thing I've learned in my time here is that gamers generally are some of the cheapest bastards in existence.

I honestly don't know how much longer the Escapist can keep going like this. I wouldn't be surprised if March is the only month they really turn a profit.

To be honest you have a point. The easiest way to generate traffic (and therefore revenue) it to hold fun competitions, like MM, where the only winners are games/game characters/game developers. I'm aware that people win shit in MM but that's not why I participate. I do it for the love of my favourite devs.

If they held similar vote based comps more regularly they could easily generate more traffic.

What about a similar competition for worst publisher (although they couldn't do that, because it's not only rude, but possibly slanderous) or best FPS hero, Best RPG hero, best platformer hero etc.

This is genius. Someone do it.

I'm always up for more competitions! Of course, none would be as traffic-attractive as "Best Developer", but at this point, their best bet IS more traffic... You gotta do what you gotta do, right?

 

[The_Echo]

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.

This. Completely this.

So much of the ad space here is put toward things that are on the Escapist, and that most of the users already know about.

A good place to start would be using that space--ad space we're already familiar with and used to--for real ads.

 

[Korolev]

If it helps I wouldn't be adverse to seeing a few more ads on this website. I'll even click on them to send the escapist a little money.

If they are struggling to play 20,000 dollars, then the Escapist is in SERIOUS trouble, and they need to find new revenue raising methods fast. The Publisher's thingamajig was good, but clearly it's not cutting it, since I already see that most of the people on the forums are not subscribers.

 

[Zing]

No. It's called not hiring content contributors you can't pay.

 

[Staskala]

I like the "More adds aren't a problem, just don't click on them!" argument.
Banner adds aren't pay-per-view, if no one clicks on them they might as well not even exist for all they do is waste bandwidth.

I don't know much about the Escapist's advertisement deals, but let's speculate a bit.
Usually banner adds aren't even pay-per-hit, so unless you actually buy from whatever site is being advertised the Escapist won't get a single cent. So "normal" banner adds aren't really an option here.
I'd assume those direct advertisements when a game launches are most likely calculated on the Escapists reach, but I don't think the escapist has enough traffic to survive on that alone and I highly doubt too many publishers even consider a site like this worthwhile enough, as the rarity of those particular adds proves.
The only real solution would be more video adds and obnoxious pop-ups, because only obtrusive shit like that is still pay-per-view. And seriously, fuck that.

 

[Dags90]

My vote is for exploitative PPV content.

I mean, it's an option, right?

 

[Saucycarpdog]

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.

What if that's the escapist's plan? Bring in new shows so you can put ads in all of them.

[sub]yes I know that sounded stupid[/sub]

 

[bakan]

snip

To be honest you have a point. The easiest way to generate traffic (and therefore revenue) it to hold fun competitions, like MM, where the only winners are games/game characters/game developers. I'm aware that people win shit in MM but that's not why I participate. I do it for the love of my favourite devs.

If they held similar vote based comps more regularly they could easily generate more traffic.

What about a similar competition for worst publisher (although they couldn't do that, because it's not only rude, but possibly slanderous) or best FPS hero, Best RPG hero, best platformer hero etc.

This is genius. Someone do it.

I don't see a problem with votings for the worst publishers, worst customer service etc because even the movie industry has the 'Golden Raspberry Award'.

OT: Well, I don't mind ads as long as they aren't intrusive like banners but for the escapist they are often just damn annoying as they pop up right in front of you.

 

[MorsePacific]

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.

This. So many times this. We have so many shows and columns that I can't even begin to remember half of them. It seems like a new one pops up everyday. I get that you need to pilot something before you figure out what to do with it, but are half of these shows worth the space they're using and the money required to keep them running?

On topic: More ads will drive a lot of people away or into the arms of ad blocking software. Ads are far from being the most reliable source of income when they're so easily hidden. I feel there are more ways they could increase their revenue without making the site look like a travesty. Like getting rid of all the contributors they don't feel are meeting expectations.

 

[StBishop]

snip

To be honest you have a point. The easiest way to generate traffic (and therefore revenue) it to hold fun competitions, like MM, where the only winners are games/game characters/game developers. I'm aware that people win shit in MM but that's not why I participate. I do it for the love of my favourite devs.

If they held similar vote based comps more regularly they could easily generate more traffic.

What about a similar competition for worst publisher (although they couldn't do that, because it's not only rude, but possibly slanderous) or best FPS hero, Best RPG hero, best platformer hero etc.

This is genius. Someone do it.

I don't see a problem with votings for the worst publishers, worst customer service etc because even the movie industry has the 'Golden Raspberry Award'.

OT: Well, I don't mind ads as long as they aren't intrusive like banners but for the escapist they are often just damn annoying as they pop up right in front of you.

Because they are a pretty big player in the game review industry, and presumably want to be even bigger, it's not in their best interest to alienate publishers. Not even to encourage discussion of poor publishers.

There's nothing wrong with calling out publishers on bad moves, eg. Assassins Creed 2 DRM, but it's another thing entirely to say "Hey guys, huz the absaloot wurst ov all these guise? Lol!!11".

 

[achilleas.k]

What I'm curious about is, when you came up with this idea OP, why wasn't your first thought the following?
"This is a business that's been doing ... business for years. If they are in financial trouble, the first idea that pops into my head would not be something they would find hard to come up with. If they don't have more ads, I doubt it's because they were waiting for ME to put the idea in their heads".

I don't mean to sound like a dick, but I probably am so I apologise. I'm just always curious why some people think they can solve other people's problems with the first idea that pops in their head, especially when the involved party is experienced in the sort of problem in question.

Also, the new pop-up ads are bloody annoying!

 

[ShadowKatt]

You know, the escapist isn't the only gaming website out there. There are lots of websites out there that deal with gaming, sites like IGN. IGN isn't backrupt, EscapistMagazine is. One of them is doing something right, the other isn't. The obvious answer is look at one that IS doing good, either formally or financially, and take a lesson from them.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

For me it's just baffling how they can be 14 months behind on payment and hire tons of new contributors at the same time.