Pre-Video Ads

[Defenestra]

I should begin by saying that, although I'm hardly a fan of them, I understand why the Escapist has ads that play before videos.

Really, I'm more posting this in the spirit of providing hopefully-useful information to the Escapist crew, though the intricacies of managing advertisements are unknown to me.

Here's the thing. I've probably seen two ads before those videos in the past six months that was of any interest to me at all.

Seriously. I don't need to remove coarse facial hair. I think spraying something around the room instead of doing laundry and disposing of decaying corpses is a cop-out. I have a bitchin' sonic toothbrush (why? Because I could not get a laser toothbrush) that I'm not gonna dump for some manual number that's got independently moving arms and four kinds of bristle in eight different colours. I'm happy with my hair being the colour that it is.

Also, perhaps some option to skip an advertisement that we have seen four times today might be of use, though I've no idea how the advertisers would feel about it.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

That's fine that you might not need what they're advertising, but some people might.
Sure, they're annoying, but you still watch them. Meeaaaaning, the site gets ad revenue aaaaand can still run.

No one likes seeing them over and over, but it's a necessary evil. If they bug you that much, you can always join the Publisher's Club; the Escapist gets, what is it, $20 a year? and you get no advertisements bugging you, as well as a myriad of other cheeky bonuses.

Thing is, I don't really see what your point is. Just sounds like you're annoyed by adverts.
There are options:
Pub Club.
Man up.

So...yeah:].

 

[direkiller]

snip

You mentioned the program that should not be named
"Further, discussions instructing or otherwise advocating the circumvention of The Escapist's advertisements, site sponsors, security mechanisms, media protections or similar facilities will not be tolerated"

sorry for sounding like a dick but they come down harder on that then they do for swearing

 

[Lordlaneus]

good point, let me fix that

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I see where you're coming from on this. Given it's audience, I'm surprised that the Escapist isn't covered with teaser trailers for games, action movies, etc.

That said, it's never really been a problem for me. If the ads were more targeted, I might pay attention- or I might stick to my regular habit of switching to another tab.

 

[PatrickXD]

If you want the content, you sit through the ad.
That's basically a rule of thumb on internet videos. At least the Escapist provides you with the option to pay a 'premium' (£15, hardly expensive) to remove adds, alongside some other nice bonuses.
As for the content of the ads, I believe a statement was released at some point in the past few years stating that the ads are not chosen by anybody on the Escapist staff. It's third party software, the content is based on what ads are available to them and the tracking cookie'd histories of people who frequent the site.
I agree with you entirely though. I couldn't care less about those ads. They're not for you or I.

 

[yuval152]

I don't mind because the escapist is getting money, and I only watch ZP so it's only once a week.

 

[Something Amyss]

First off:

I have a bitchin' sonic toothbrush (why? Because I could not get a laser toothbrush)

Win.

Now that that's out of the way....

I get what you're saying. Unfortunately, it's the nature of adverts. I mean, I keep getting DISH captchas, specifically. A service I cannot use currently, cannot use in the near future, and one I probably will never use. Most of the adverts are useless, and some I wonder if ANYONE here would find useful. It's amazing with all this information technology, we still can't deliver a message more efficiently.

I remember back when this many ads would make a site look cheap and trashy. Now it's viewed as necessary or standard.

 

[direkiller]

sorry for sounding like a dick but they come down harder on that then they do for swearing

They come down on you for swearing?

Almost 7000 posts later and I finally catch wind of that. Fuck, I'm ignorant.


OT: All I know is they had THAT fucking Fanta advert on for like a year straight (yeah, THAT one) and then I stopped watching videos on this site. If I see that ad one more time I'm... Well, going to do nothing other than frown at the screen and leave whatever website I'm browsing, but still.

They don't unless your swearing at someone
winch may very well fall under the don't be a dick rule

 

[Gatx]

I actually don't mind Escapist advertisements. I go to the anime streaming site Crunchyroll regularly, and not only do they play two advertisements, they're usually the same advertisement twice, and sometimes they're in Spanish.

 

[Faladorian]

If they're really that much of a problem for you, then you could just AD some form of BLOCK to your browser.

Not to mention that a little while ago they made it so that if you have an adblocker on, the whole website turned white and you couldnt do anything.

 

[Aris Khandr]

If they're really that much of a problem for you, then you could just AD some form of BLOCK to your browser.

Not to mention that a little while ago they made it so that if you have an adblocker on, the whole website turned white and you couldnt do anything.

Really? That's awesome. Where was I when the upset and confused forum posts about that came in?

 

[Faladorian]

Really? That's awesome. Where was I when the upset and confused forum posts about that came in?

Possibly too busy searching other forums and Yahoo answers about why the escapist wasn't working, like the rest of us xD

 

[Aris Khandr]

No, odds are I was packing if it happened within the last month.

 

[Mandalore_15]

If they're really that much of a problem for you, then you could just AD some form of BLOCK to your browser.

Not to mention that a little while ago they made it so that if you have an adblocker on, the whole website turned white and you couldnt do anything.

Hm, well if they did it didn't work... most of my friends use adblockers, as do probably the majority of people that use the internet and are even the least bit tech-savvy. I run them on certain sites but disable them for others (such as the escapist) that legitimately need the revenue to keep going.

The truth of it is that adblockers are here to stay and really the only way of stopping people using them is to appeal to your audience not to, or to put in ads in a way that isn't so intrusive. When it comes to watching minute-long video ads before the content you actually want, I can see why people use them. If you want to watch ten or more videos, that's ten minutes of your life watching ads. Perhaps if they added in a "skip" button after 5 seconds like on youtube?

 

[DoPo]

When it comes to watching minute-long video ads before the content you actually want, I can see why people use them. If you want to watch ten or more videos, that's ten minutes of your life watching ads. Perhaps if they added in a "skip" button after 5 seconds like on youtube?

> Have to watch them
> mfw

So-o-o, what's stopping you from openning the 10 videos in separate tabs, stopping the sound, playing the videos and coming back to watch them in 5 minutes. You can probably check the forums in the mean time, or go make yourself a sandwich or whatever. I'm sure you can find something productive to do for 5 minutes.

 

[ascorbius]

I saw an ad before a video a few weeks ago, I really got annoyed - I thought "How dare they take up my time like this... Do they know who I am?" Then I realized my PubClub membership had expired, so I fixed it.. no more ads for me.

 

[Mandalore_15]

When it comes to watching minute-long video ads before the content you actually want, I can see why people use them. If you want to watch ten or more videos, that's ten minutes of your life watching ads. Perhaps if they added in a "skip" button after 5 seconds like on youtube?

So-o-o, what's stopping you from openning the 10 videos in separate tabs, stopping the sound, playing the videos and coming back to watch them in 5 minutes. You can probably check the forums in the mean time, or go make yourself a sandwich or whatever. I'm sure you can find something productive to do for 5 minutes.

Well, so long as your computer isn't on its last legs (like mine) and will allow you to open 10 videos without flash crashing, then nothing... but people have been spoiled by convenience on the internet, and will take measures to avoid even the most insignificant inconveniences these days. That's why you either have to try and challenge that habit (by appealing to them about its necessity), or try and make it less inconvenient for them (the 5-second skip button).

Bear in mind that I'm not talking about myself here, I let the escapist ads run despite finding them annoying.

 

[DoPo]

Bear in mind that I'm not talking about myself here, I let the escapist ads run despite finding them annoying.

Me, too, I just do something else in the mean time. If 10 videos are too much for you, you can go for 3 at a time - watch 3 videos, go check your mail, watch another 3 videos...etc. You get the idea. The point is, you are not forced to sit there for a whole minute and stare at the ads, when you can safely not watch them. Hence there isn't any time wasted (well, aside from the fact that you're on the internet) as you claim there is.