Advertising on Nexus Mods. The how, what and why, and what to do when it goes wrong.

[Ethreon]

In response to post #45634790.

MrJohn wrote: Interesting article, much better content than the others I would commend.

The problem I have with the advertisements are mostly their annoyance. As far as I knew, you had removed the "lifetime membership" option back when you announced the "final sale" of them. But my opinion is not gained a positive spur from this article.

Viewing picture 5 and 6, I would like to say a few things. Beginning with picture 5, the banner advertisements aren't too bad. The bright background mitigates my first issue, which is contrast. The second square ad really breaks this. The first thing that pops up on the site is a bright white box, clearly disrupting the otherwise gray and pleasant to look at information, trying to squeeze my eyes to look at it, interrupting my viewer experience to push their product. It doesn't fit, and thereby becomes an anomaly in an otherwise good site.

We scroll down, and see what you see in picture 6. Not too bad. Banner ad holds the color of the page, it can be ignored successfully. But there it is again. Bright colors, clearly attempting to gut at you. "Look at me!!!!" it screams.

Which is the purpose of an advertisement, to gain attention. But right now my attention wants to be on modding.

Which brings me to the 2nd point, targeted advertisement. I am not condoning the art of cookie tracking, am quite strongly against it and any form of advertisements, even though their "wooo eviiiiil" is necessary. But there are a few simple steps that could help. Using your examples for picture 5 and 6, only one advertisement could be uniformly helpful to anyone viewing your site. The first banner ad, Discord. Something for the gamers. The rest are about christmas presents or traveling, nothing that you would come to the Nexus for. I doubt Github would have as much success putting up ads for puppies as you would for traveling. Understandably, you do not control the ads yourself as you've said, but it doesn't help.

A minor tweak would be to add more focus on gaming related advertisement, or to push your ad-provider for more things closer to home. Gaming equipment (keyboards, mice, Logitech/Razer etc.), computers (such as Origin PC), games or games media. These things would be interesting to your demographic (gamers/modders), and would maybe persuade more to help out. What I would rather fear is that it would cost your bottom line to restrict advertisement content. As far as I am concerned, most of these ads are just as bad as any other "bad ads", only "less frowned upon" so to speak.

I can only speak for myself of course. Generally, pages without ads are just better, cleaner and smoother. Less bandwidth is used, if you are on a metered connection, than if not. It all eventually boils down to ethics and morals.

What gives you the right to show us ads? Because you own the site? It is an open internet and you've made this site as a free resource. Some people pay for their bandwidth (such as mobile internet), and would probably not want to pay for the advertisements themselves given the choice. Is it right to push advertisements on them? And if we have the magic switch that says "no thanks", is it right for others to slander them because they don't give out money instead? Should we be expected to hand out cash for sites in exchange for ad-free nature? Ads that they push themselves.

In closing, I commend you for this article. The look into the backside of Nexus is always interesting, not always positive, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them. You also avoided the "we needs monies, pls help" side of the story, though whenever a site mentions the "ads", they usually want to spark some feeling of "Maybe I should help", which is quite cheap. Personally I am torn on the issue regarding finances, as I know it is difficult.

"What gives you the right to show us ads? Because you own the site?"

Exactly. He owns it, and he would have to pay for it from his pocket. Even if he'd be a rich man, doubt you'd get the same amazing offer if there were no ads. Rest of your argument might be based and intelligent, but that there is a dumb statement.

[Malosar]

The main sites/forums I visit on a regular daily basis I opt in for a small premium fee, usually in the range of a few dollars a month, to both support the site and have an ad free experience. It's simple math. Websites need to be able to run and that costs money. Want everything for free? Advertising. The concept existed way before the internet.

 

I'm astounded that Nexus is top 750 in the world though, that's crazy. Kudos to you folks here for the services you provide!

[soupdragon1234]

What gives you the right to show us ads? Because you own the site? It is an open internet and you've made this site as a free resource. Some people pay for their bandwidth (such as mobile internet), and would probably not want to pay for the advertisements themselves given the choice. Is it right to push advertisements on them? And if we have the magic switch that says "no thanks", is it right for others to slander them because they don't give out money instead? Should we be expected to hand out cash for sites in exchange for ad-free nature? Ads that they push themselves.

 

Yes, because he owns the site. Secondly, it has to be paid for. What you think stuff like this comes for free? Really? The mobile argument might have some value if they paid for this site as well as their internet service but they didn't, and since when did you last contribute anything towards this site, its maintenance or its content?

 

Because from where I'm sitting you're a freeloader and I'll tell you this, when the balance of costs vs. advertising reaches a tipping point that more people use adblock than not, when those expenses can no longer be covered, it'll mean either the end of free sites like this or they'll become a paid up subscription model membership only. Its only the ads that pay for peoples free membership and the hosting costs of free mods and the law of ever diminishing returns applies here. :ermm:

[DKong27]

With this talk of ads it brings back something I have wondered in the past. I payed the $2 (plus a small international payment charge >.> ) to become a Supporter. How does an upfront payment compare to the loss of ad revenue? Ads generate such a small amount at a time, but eventually the ads you aren't seeing would've generated more revenue right?

 

I guess I can math that out. If a typical impression is worth between $.001 and $.0001, $2 would be 2000 to 20000 impressions. If every page has 4 ads, that would mean ad revenue would overtake Supporter revenue between 500 and 5000 page views. I have no idea how many page views I would have since becoming a Supporter, but 500 doesn't seem difficult for a heavy user.

Edited December 14, 2016 by DKong27

[TheGreatFalro]

With this talk of ads it brings back something I have wondered in the past. I payed the $2 (plus a small international payment charge >.> ) to become a Supporter. How does an upfront payment compare to the loss of ad revenue? Ads generate such a small amount at a time, but eventually the ads you aren't seeing would've generated more revenue right?

 

I guess I can math that out. If a typical impression is worth between $.001 and $.0001, $2 would be 2000 to 20000 impressions. If every page has 4 ads, that would mean ad revenue would overtake Supporter revenue between 500 and 5000 page views. I have no idea how many page views I would have since becoming a Supporter, but 500 doesn't seem difficult for a heavy user.

Can't remember where, but I saw Dark0ne say that the Supporter membership would never be exceeded by the ad revenue in a reasonable environment.

[Taraviel]

Convinced.

[Deleted3802795User]

It must have taken you forever to write all this. Much appreciated, this kind of in-depth explanation is always valuable.

[zcul]

Thank you for this comprehensive and most informative explanations.

We’d this „ad-discussion“ earlier. I’m still convinced, that one couldn’t run a site like this and its huge and still increasing content without ads and only based on „affordable“ premiums. Nothing for free these times without ads. There’s no reason to complain on getting a service for free that’s related to ads as a financial base. If one doesn’t like that, no one’s compelled, as far as I know, to regularly visit ad supported/ad financed sites. It’s everyone’s free decision ... Apart from that, as a previous non-premium member, the ads as they were placed and displayed were acceptable/decent and not exactly intruding or annoying me. Thank you to the Nexus team for the great service they provide us with and the superb job they do.

 

[Deleted3802795User]

In response to post #45635370. #45635585 is also a reply to the same post.

EvillBob wrote:

Totally support having ads here but I would like to see fewer malicious ones. I turned off Ad-Block yesterday for this site then got nailed by a ad that redirects you (without your input) to another site, then keeps you from closing the tab just like the last 2 times I did disabled Ad-Block.

pharago wrote: I don't use adblockers, never had an issue with the nexus, if anything this is one of the most clean sites on the internet, maybe the ad-providers just don't like you, you can always clean your browser's cookie jar :)

Yeah, Nexus doesn't make use of really aggressive ad formats, such as intermissions.

[Leaite]

In response to post #45635370. #45635585, #45638550 are all replies on the same post.

EvillBob wrote:

Totally support having ads here but I would like to see fewer malicious ones. I turned off Ad-Block yesterday for this site then got nailed by a ad that redirects you (without your input) to another site, then keeps you from closing the tab just like the last 2 times I did disabled Ad-Block.

pharago wrote: I don't use adblockers, never had an issue with the nexus, if anything this is one of the most clean sites on the internet, maybe the ad-providers just don't like you, you can always clean your browser's cookie jar :)

Sliker90 wrote: Yeah, Nexus doesn't make use of really aggressive ad formats, such as intermissions.

That sounds like maybe you've got some malicious software, m8. I don't use Ad-Block on Nexus and not a single time have I had that happen since I started modding Oblivion way back when. In fact, I only have Ad-Block enabled for a few sites, and that doesn't happen unless I a) visit one of those sites we don't talk about, b) download something stupid, or c) accidentally click an ad.

ETA: Yes, I am a supporter, but I only log in when I need something. Not while just browsing around. My small way of supporting the site, I suppose. Edited December 14, 2016 by Leaite