Winterfang
Banned
I think is stupid that you are forced to watch Ads on Neogaf, specially since it goes against the philosophies of the posters, but hey what can we do about it? I wish I didn't get crappy Spanish ads at least.
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Pachter talks about AdBlock
- Thread starter DarkoMaledictus
- Start date
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
If an ad slips through that is particularly nasty, the mods have indeed told people that it's ok to turn on adblock until they get it sorted out. However, it's still not ok if everything is running fine and it's just some unintrusive ads at the top and bottom of the page.
Netflix is able to appeal to people by offering an incredible variety of content and are constantly locking down new content. Even with their high subscription base they still find it difficult to be profitable.
A lot of networks are also uncomrtable, or unable to, offer their content for streaming to non-cable subscriber. Until a month ago HBO was cable subscriber only and they were one of the networks with their own streaming service available, HBOGo.
The subscription model can work for some channels and sites but for other the advertising model is necessary to pay for the type of content they produce, or charge a larger fee for less original content in the way HBO, Showtime and Starz do.
Advertising isn't just about immediately making people go out and buy a product. I've seen countless films, rent/bought many games and books based on advertisements I've seen for them. Some food items as well.
legacyzero
Banned
Besides, why the fuck would you adblock NeoGAF? The most harmless ads I've seen on any site.
They go a bit haywire sometimes, but they're usually dealt with.
They go a bit haywire sometimes, but they're usually dealt with.
This is basically the gist of it.
Digital agencies really screwed up in how they went about stuff, and lot of it had to do with how payment was setup. Cost Per Impression and Cost per Click are fairly useless, and they just lead to a lot of people trying to game the system, to the detriment of not only people who have to deal with horrible ads, but also the companies who who were honestly just trying to advertise a product. (since it doesn't lead to real sales if it's gamed) It backfired, essentially.
unfortunately, GAF is the exception, not the rule
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Oh, I'm not saying adblock is cool or anything. Just saying I thought I'd seen a mod flatout say you won't be banned for using adblock, only if you're flaunting it like a dick. Granted, how would it come up if you weren't being a dick about it.
I edited my post with a quote I found from EviLore that kind of seems to be implying that's his feeling on it, but he isn't super clear as far as laying down a hard and fast rule.
JacksUsername
Member
I try to avoid Adblock on where I can, but in the case of GameTrailers, it's always on. Not because I don't think they should earn revenue, but I can't count the number of times I've navigated to a video, watched the ad, and then the video failed to load. Cue refreshing the page, and getting stuck watching the ad again. If their player wasn't notoriously horrible, I'd be more than happy to sit through a 15-30 second ad for original content.
Nonsense.
You have to have solid content to ask for money up front. HBO, Netflix, and pretty much every other service that exists off of subscriptions do just fine with this model. They have substantial content that people want.
Most websites do not have substantial content. They are better off not being behind a gate, because the number of people willing to pay up front to get past the gate isn't large enough. If it was, there'd be a gate.
I'm not going to pay a monthly subscription to my local paper's website that mostly just reposts AP stories. Apparently I wasn't alone because Gannett figured out real quick that won't fly. So now each page has at least six banner ads on it.
This is not sustainable.
uncleniccius
Member
I used to experience this, but it has been much better recently.
I've never used an ad block before because I feel like giving the content makers money is the right thing to do, and that's a way to do it, but it annoys me when some sites like ign do full screen ads on their home page with sound, that puts me off visiting.
Edit: what I'm trying to say is, if you don't like the ads of a website, don't visit them. Using ad block is costing them money (not much, but still) so it is pretty much stealing, at least in my opinion.
A lot of people seem to pay for giant bomb.
My default is adblock off but it's instantly turned on for sites that use obnoxious ads. The worst are those full page animated ads that look like the site until godzilla or some shit comes out of nowhere. Also hate the ones with sound enabled by default that just happen to come on when I have 50 tabs open and I have to go searching for the source. (which I'm sure someone will tell me there's an app for that)
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Unprofessional Fridays is worth all the money.
Screw atrack does this with VS. I find it kinda funny actuality.
I don't have any data in front of me. But to put it this way, using banners on a website is marketing in the same way as commercials on TV, ads in print, ads in a subway station etc. It might not work for every person out there, but generally it works by making people aware of the product. Banner ads are nothing special, it's what the ad industry has been doing for decades and it, by and large, clearly works. Also, ads generally don't work in a direct way. If you watch an ad for some food product (or a game) you won't drop everything you're doing to go out to buy it RIGHT NOW. But maybe you'll think of that product the next time you're in a store? That's how it works.
Big games today have a marketing budget that's nearly as big as the cost of actually developing the game. They're not doing it to waste money.
edit: Regarding a site like Giant Bomb having a subscription model: In the mainstream game press, that's the exception to the rule. They can make that work because of the personality-driven content. IGN, with the costs they probably have, would die within a year if they moved to subscription.
GlamFM
Banned
The internet is a very different battlefield.
They all have more or less the same content and only use different packaging.
The moment you start charging money your audience just goes to the next guy who still does it for free.
The internet is a freeloaders heaven and that perception won't change.
If you are using chrome there is a small speaker icon next to the X on tabs that produce sound.
Just_myles
Member
Kind of surprised some of you are adamant about using ad-block. We have this internet culture where nobody wants to pay for anything and blows me away. Music most notably. If you knew what the songwriters were going through, you would probably think other wise.
Also as a Hulu plus user for some years I remember when there were no ads, to a couple, then a lot which it presently has. Even though I would willing pay more just lessen them, I understand the importance of having them. It should be simple to comprehend.
Also as a Hulu plus user for some years I remember when there were no ads, to a couple, then a lot which it presently has. Even though I would willing pay more just lessen them, I understand the importance of having them. It should be simple to comprehend.
Yup. The placement is out of the way and doesn't effect user experience aside from the odd slip up(I've had mobile redirect me to the app store, things like that), in which case people can make a thread and the higher ups are pretty open about looking into it.
That should not be nearly as rare as it is, but whatever.
Aquamarine
Member
Perma-ban until you atone for your sins
GlamFM
Banned
I do - although it doesn't make a lot of sense for us Europeans.
I'm usually sleeping when live stuff goes down.
I REPENT, I REPENT!!!
GlamFM
Banned
Use GAF from 3 different machines with different IPs at all time for three month and we're golden.
Arrogant Bastard
Banned
Shrug, I think it is a myth that ad companies have convinced everyone out there that ads work. To my knowledge there exists zero solid data suggesting that it has any measurable effect whatsoever. It is pure smoke and mirrors.
When I go to the store I go down each aisle and buy the things that I want and like, again maybe I'm a super human. Travelocity ad, Allstate ad, w/e. Guess what, I don't even think about em. When I travel I use one of the many aggregate sites that compare prices from all agents. The same is true for insurance.
When I buy products, I don't reflect on Best Buy or Target. I go with the cheapest and less stressful option. More often than not that is Amazon, even then I use a price tracker to ascertain whether or not the current price is low/high/average.
Tertullian
Member
I think this is probably right.
Yup, that's what you hear all the time when people bring up some newspapers being paywall'd (NY Times comes to mind). Only a small fraction of sites would survive if they went behind a paywall. That's rarely a fault of the site, it's just that it's incredibly difficult to get people to pay for sites that way on the internet. It's why so few sites are subscription-based.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
So if it's a pay what you want scheme (as you say it is), I can choose to pay $0.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
Well seeing as you have a Gerstmann avatar you probably remember when they were going to try and time lock the second half of their podcast behind a paywall. That is, subs would get the full podcast and non-subs would get the second half later in the week or the next week.
It had to be so difficult for them in that regard. I imagine the podcast is something that draws people to their website, but at the same time that was probably the #1 thing that should have been locked away. I thought they came up with a good compromise, but the backlash was too much. Thankfully I think they came up with a way to include ads in their podcast so that people can't filter them and I also think that even subscribers are listening to the regular feed because the ads are done extremely well by Gerstmann and co.
Felix Lighter
Member
I don't think the issue is as black and white as Pachter and some posters paint it out to be. But regardless of who is "morally" right, one thing is for sure, adblock exists and sites are not going to be able keep relying on the good will of dedicated users who disable it and unaware users that aren't savvy enough to know it exists. Eventually, a new sustainable business model or ad delivery method will need to gain traction and I don't think it's going to be subscription model for every single web site.
Advertising campaigns like the "Diamonds Are Forever" ads of the 1940s. Nike's "Just Do It" campaign, ProActiv's celeb campaigns and Old Spice's newer funny deopdorant ads all resulted in increased sales. Some, like the diamond ones completely changed the way the product was viewed.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
You realise you only found those comparison sites through some sort of advertising...
Oh the irony.
scoobs
Member
Pachter is a very well off dude, he doesn't need whatever small amount of money GT might give him for his segments. I see him every week on MSNBC talking about something tech related in the stock market. Video games seems like just a passion project for the guy, I hope one day I can afford to do something similar.
EdReedFan20
Member
Like I said earlier, the only thing I have a problem with, ad wise, is The Bonus Round. That thing does not need a commercial break in the middle, especially when the first segment is sometimes as short as 3-4 minutes. If during the break, you watched one ad, sure that's fine, but 3-4? That's going a little overboard. What they should do is have The Bonus Round uploaded as one giant video (instead of spreading it out over four weeks) and after each FULL segment is over have the "commercial breaks" then (and only then). That way, it would be no different than watching a TV show.
Very few artists make significant amounts of money from advertising. The people who make money from advertising are typically of a certain sort...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvvFfeLh84
Hrm...
and then there's the video below, for a more lengthy explanation of how manipulative advertising actually is in 2014.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365181302/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvvFfeLh84
Hrm...
and then there's the video below, for a more lengthy explanation of how manipulative advertising actually is in 2014.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365181302/
Wasn't part of the problem with the podcast stuff that Dave had posted a big thing on the forums when they went premium, and one of the promises was that everything that was free up until then would remain free? And then they suggested that stuff about the podcast? That's what I seem to remember. But you're right, it probably would've been the same way regardless.
Jeff has said numerous times that it's difficult to justify a podcast to a marketing team: It takes up 3 hours of recording for everyone involved, and more for the person editing it. And it's so difficult to make much direct money on it, even with ads. Since the Bombcast is by far the most popular thing they do it justifies itself by bringing people to the site, but it's not easy to make that argument.
Arrogant Bastard
Banned
Oh I did? Thanks for letting me know.
I was using aggregate sites long before they started advertising. Back in the day when it simply ran a script of some kind that opened each and every travel company/insurance company in a different window. But thanks for telling me how I did something, really omniscient of you.
DCDW
Member
I generally try to keep my adblock off. That said, I have to turn it off with Twitch as their ads hijack my volume and sometimes won't even mute when given the option (the mute button on their ad). Basically just don't hijack anything on my computer (volume, tab I'm viewing, screen space, etc) to view your ads and I'll keep adblock off.
You have every right to do so. I think it sucks to do that (as does Pach of course), but I'm sure you're not too worried about what I think or about the long-term repercussions.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Google etc is a form of advertising. The only reason you know a company exists is generally because of advertising.
That is the point of advertising. That's why it's completely ridiculous to say it doesn't work. If they didn't advertise in any form more often than not you wouldn't even know they existed.
Even being on a supermarkets, or a retailers shelf is a form of advertising companies pay to be there.
When it comes to alternatives, for some reason I really don't find it annoying at all when the video maker is presenting the product himself, usually not taking too long and giving his own thoughts on it, it feels like part of the same video (because, well, it is), instead of something you have to sit through in order to get to what you want.
Most people here probably won't know about it since it's a brazilian channel, but it's the way JovemNerd usually does, they have a moment where they'll show you some product that is relevant to their audience and usually to the video you're watching, and I never felt like skipping through it, even though I could just click a few seconds ahead. It feels right.
Most people here probably won't know about it since it's a brazilian channel, but it's the way JovemNerd usually does, they have a moment where they'll show you some product that is relevant to their audience and usually to the video you're watching, and I never felt like skipping through it, even though I could just click a few seconds ahead. It feels right.
Yup. The concept of "branding" was invented by the ad industry. The guy who came up with the concept of making firms themselves brands, iike Nike and Coca Cola have become, actually died just a few weeks ago.
SniperHunter
Banned
by using adblock you are just destroying the webmasters livelihood. i never use adblock on gaf, gamersyde and other smaller sites
its good to have on porn sites and certain news sites i read
its good to have on porn sites and certain news sites i read
JacksUsername
Member
Good to know; I might give them another chance, since I do enjoy Pop Fiction and The Final Bosman, and would like to support them. Previously, when I was encountering those loading problems, it just impacted the user experience too much to ignore.
Dreams-Visions
Member
This. Also, if your website is employing flash-based ads, I'm enabling Ad Block. They make my system run loud, hotter and work harder. Also, those ads that take over damn near the entire screen that make regular appearances at ESPN.com are unacceptable.
Chinese Cartoons
Banned
Trap.
cuzintheboss
Banned
i can't go anymore online without adblock on.
When people say "pop-ups" do they mean overlays that cover your screen or sht that actually opens new browser windows? I genuinely haven't see the latter in years.
Slightly off-topic, but I am noticing targeted ads way more than I ever did. I've been looking into Interac and TEFL courses lately and that is literally all I ever see now.
Slightly off-topic, but I am noticing targeted ads way more than I ever did. I've been looking into Interac and TEFL courses lately and that is literally all I ever see now.
I do not use ad-block because I understand that is the livelihood of sites and it is completely wrong to punish content-makers. However there are certain practices I find unacceptable and will disable on a per-site basis if I feel they are abused or that the webmaster is not going far enough to prevent advertiser abuse.