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.