Video Ads

[jsteele]

Folks, one thing you can do to help us increase revenues and possibly get rid of the video ads is to encourage any businesses that you know to advertise on DCUM. We do a small amount of direct advertising in which we work directly with advertisers. If you see the Smithsonian ad, the Russian School of Mathematics ads, or the ad for a menopause support group, those are all direct ads rather than from an ad network. These are normally fairly small ad buys, so a huge expenditure is not required. Most of our customers are happy with the results and it is common for advertisers to repeat. We have had good luck with schools advertising Summer programs, or just general advertising of their programs.

Just to set expectations, display advertising has its limitations. Nobody should expect a million clicks on their ad. We normally see about 0.04 percent click through rate. That is about industry standard so nothing better or worse about us. Often the ads are better for creating brand awareness than for generating direct sales. But, even though hoping to drive traffic to their website have been happy with the results.

DCUM's demographics are terrific with a highly-educated, generally affluent user base. Moreover, the vast majority of our users are women and while I know there are a lot of exceptions (and everyone of them will probably make their voice heard), women generally drive the majority of a family's spending. I don't think this sort of information effectively filters through to advertisers who rely on agencies who go through the various ad networks with which we partner. But, if you can tell businesses directly, I think we have a convincing value proposition.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff: FYI I have noticed a sharp uptick in the page reloading issue (where you lose what you are composing as a response) when the video ads started. It’s now happened multiple times in one day.

Is this happening with the quick reply at the bottom of the page or the reply page or both?

It’s only happened on the reply page, but I rarely use quick reply.

I'll look into this but the video ads don't run on the reply page so I don't think there is a connection there.

[Anonymous]

If this is going to be the new normal, I am out. Wishing you all the best!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:If this is going to be the new normal, I am out. Wishing you all the best!

Hold on for a few more days. We are still not sure which way things are going to go.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff: FYI I have noticed a sharp uptick in the page reloading issue (where you lose what you are composing as a response) when the video ads started. It’s now happened multiple times in one day.

Is this happening with the quick reply at the bottom of the page or the reply page or both?

It’s only happened on the reply page, but I rarely use quick reply.

I'll look into this but the video ads don't run on the reply page so I don't think there is a connection there.

Okay, just wanted to let you know. The reloading issue has been an issue on and off for a long time. It is strange how sometimes the rate upticks

[jsteele]

Okay, after writing my post above about selling ads, a new idea occurred to me. What if we sell gift certificates for ads? We can offer various monetary denominations representing a certain number of impressions. People can buy them for advertising for their own purposes if they have something to advertise, to give to someone else to advertise something, or just as a way of supporting DCUM and with no plans to use the certificates. That way we can raise money, but offer something in return.

Would there be any interest in this?

[Anonymous]

Gift certificates for ads seems like a novel idea.. but I think there's a group out there who would just donate if you set up Patreon. Why not try that first? I'm guessing it's easier to set up too.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Gift certificates for ads seems like a novel idea.. but I think there's a group out there who would just donate if you set up Patreon. Why not try that first? I'm guessing it's easier to set up too.

We are a business and not a charity so I am not really comfortable with donations. I'd like to provide something in return, even if those buying it don't intend to use it.

[Anonymous]

So how much would an ad be, like for say a Happy Birthday Keanu ad for a day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:I've turned the ads off on all pages except the main forum listing. Clearly the system is not working correctly since no ads appear to be displaying but only the Keanu Reeves video. I'll probably start turning the ads on for more bags if/when things start working as expected.

I didn’t like the video popup over the text, but it could have been worse since I was only seeing Keanu and he’s easy on the eyes. I will never forget his birthday now, either.

Problem is, Keanu only has a birthday once a year. The jury's still out on what else we'll see. Tikka masala and Welsh ponies so far for me, which isn't bad. We shall see.

In contrast, I got a couple. Embracing a large dog. In a way that I wasn’t sure was family-friendly. I was very happy to see Keanu. I’ll look forward to seeing the tikka masala and the ponies.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:So how much would an ad be, like for say a Happy Birthday Keanu ad for a day?

We sell ads by impressions. An impression is a single view of an ad. We have roughly a million impressions per day, give or take. We normally recommend a minimum of 15,000 impressions per day. So, if we priced that at $1 per 1,000 impressions, that would be $15 a day. You could buy more or less per day. If you chose fewer, the ad might get swamped in the others and not get much attention. If you wanted to wish Keanu a happy birthday on his birthday, you would probably want to blanket the site for a single day. So, let's say a half a million impressions for one day. That would cost $500.00. But, by the end of the day everyone would be sick of the ad.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Okay, after writing my post above about selling ads, a new idea occurred to me. What if we sell gift certificates for ads? We can offer various monetary denominations representing a certain number of impressions. People can buy them for advertising for their own purposes if they have something to advertise, to give to someone else to advertise something, or just as a way of supporting DCUM and with no plans to use the certificates. That way we can raise money, but offer something in return.

Would there be any interest in this?

You’re in an area with a lot of Feds. We have very strong limits on outside activities, which has to be approved by the ethics office. We aren’t in a business that advertises and there are a lot of hoops to getting side hassles approved. A lot of hoops and Hatch Act issues on something like buying an advertisement for a political candidate or Fed contractor or an issue ad. Most of us aren’t Clarence Thomas. I have no idea what the ethics of my paying for advertising someone else's business are or Eve buying a certificate and pocketing it. But I know I have a ridiculous (mandatory) disclaimer on my social media accounts about my opinions about the latest show at Birchmere are my own and not my agency’s.

Things were dicey for Feds under Trump. Any excuse to go after people at “liberal” agencies. And could get dicey again. It honestly isn’t worth my time or energy to get ethics approval to buy an ad gift certificate— especially when the answer is probably that I could donate it some places (like my kids school booster then) but not others (issue ads and candidates and Fed contractors).

One of the nice things about DCUM is I get to voice political opinions because rhetoric can’t be tied to me.

Given all that, I’d reluctantly decline to buy an ad gift certificate. Too complicated. Too risky. But I’d subscribe or donate (and I’d love a pair of socks that says “Larla, Larla, Larla” if ai donate at a certain level.

[Anonymous]

Excuse my ignorance, but you get paid just for Keanu, etc, coming onto my screen, regardless of whether I click on the ad? A related question was has anyone in the history of DCUM intentionally clicked on one of the mass ad buys (not a local summer school, etc)? I just cannot imagine this. Last, do you get paid more if I see the ad, click on the ad, and actually buy something?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gift certificates for ads seems like a novel idea.. but I think there's a group out there who would just donate if you set up Patreon. Why not try that first? I'm guessing it's easier to set up too.

We are a business and not a charity so I am not really comfortable with donations. I'd like to provide something in return, even if those buying it don't intend to use it.

I think what you fgive is good content moderation and (relatively) troll free zones. But hey, give merchandise like NPR if you want too. But please not ad impressions. Not on a site where a lot of the readers are Feds. That has the potential to be a really mess.

[Anonymous]

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