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Subscribe to RSSSeattle P-I reporter (and friend of the 'Vine) John Cook had a note in his blog last week entitled "Lack of Ads Concerns Newsvine". The post was written after our unveiling of the Newsvine Earnings page and subsequent explanation of progess made on the advertising front.
We're happy to say that since that time, the sell-through rate on Newsvine has improved dramatically thanks to the efforts of FM Publishing and their sales staff. A little patience on behalf of Newsvine and the community is starting to pay off with ads this month from the likes of Apple Computer (!!!), The New York Times, CNBC, Ing, Disney, JetBlue, and a host of others. All of these great companies advertising on Newsvine, and guess what? No bouncing George Bush heads, no seizure-inducing screensaver pitches, no popunders, and nothing else that would detract from the user experience of the site.
This is a major reason why FM and Newsvine are working together. We both believe in showcasing tasteful, relevant advertising around tasteful, relevant content. We're still in the beginning stages of developing the site and helping contributors monetize their content, but this month represents a big step forward.
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I'm glad I don't see the "Which one is 50 Cent?" advertisements - the ones that let you choose between 50 Cent and Paris Hilton.
Thanks for the "good" advertisements (oxymoron?)... they're worth it. Also, it's good to see that they are not scams. Some are actually interesting :P
I wish I could play those popup games without getting spyware. I always just end up playing them at school or someone else's computer (like Ansab) ;)
Yeah, nice to see the adverts arrive, although:
There's very little relevant to those of us outside the US. Insweb won't insure my UK registered 1996 Fiat Bravo and that makes me sad ;)
I've disabled Adblock so I can see them, only on Newsvine. So far they're not too intrusive although they can mess up the display of the shorter articles, like this one for instance, and it makes a big difference if there are already images in an article.
Thanks for getting things moving though. I can feel me getting over $1 in August now :¬)
Apple is one of the advertisers that is tempting me with their shiny, shiny products and they're also a company with country specific sites. How difficult would it be to reroute a click through to a country specific url rather than a US one?
mark, where did the idea of securing local advertising come from? Who will make up the teams. I suggested this to Newsvine some time ago but never had a response on it. I have been trying to get it across to youse guys that allowing decentralized editing and advertising sales could make this site a real winner.
The new ads have definitely filled me with more confidence that earnings are going to increase. Its great for us and for you.
I think some of the ads are a little US based, but that's to be expected. Most of them fit in quite nicely and Ive had a click on a couple of them.
I like the way you said
And I'd almost agree so far that they'd been quite nice. Things like the smooth movement on the CNBC ad work quite well. the only one Ive found a bit annoying was the one from Kazaa - it nearly always drew my attention away, which I know its supposed to do, but becomes a bit annoying after a while.
Its nice to see you have enough ads so we see different ones as we go around the site as well.
Still see no ads...
You kidding? I've seen Michael Eisner's face more than a thousand times now!
Do you ever see any ads? Maybe an ad blocker? Go to this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\chrome
and see if you have a userContent.css, the "-example." Maybe ads are being blocked for you.
Also, do you have that Newsvine Greasemonkey script installed? That could do it, too.
Otherwise... I'm lost.
Nope, ads there when norton off, not when norton on, norton told to allow ads.
Yeah, I'm glad to finally see some ads that I feel good about having next to my content.
Maybe not the Eisner one -- but all in all a great selection.
I'm still not a big fan of flash ads.
Perhaps we aren't getting but the flashing lightning on the "homeowners' insurance doesn't cover flooding" ads is coming close...
I'm the same Elliot. I use no ad blocking at all, but I block all flash by default whether it be an ad or not, and only allow the flash that I specifically ok to work. I've been bitten by flash ads playing sounds, bypassing pop up blockers and other annoying things before, so I won't be unblocking flash. Which means that I simply don't see the flash ads on newsvine.
The more non flash ads, the happier I am, because they are just what ads are meant to be without the hidden surpises that flash can bring with it. I also see the non flash ads, bringing in a bit of revenue to newsvine and the community
An ad should be either an image (no anim gifs), or block of text with a link, nothing else.
...when my sound is at 100% from doing something else just before and sitting in headphones :(
As I read this article now, it has a very tasteful, non-flashing banner for an HP Printer.
Stuff we might actually use, presented in a respectful manner, with some prestigious accounts. Way, way to go!
Maybe the payments from that ad may eventually allow us to pay the sales tax on that $1,799 printer ;-)
One of the insurance ads has caused me problems twice. When I clicked on the conversation tracker to go to an article, instead of scrolling down to the new comment, the screen got stuck at the ad as the focus appeared to be in the text box to put in your zip code (blinkin cursor was there). Not a big enough deal to file a bug report, but thought I should mention it.
It's starting to cause me problems now. It doesn't do it on my windows box, but my Linux box now jumps up to the ad after I post a comment, rather than displaying my comment.
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.0.5) Gecko/20060731 Ubuntu/dapper-security Firefox/1.5.0.5
I believe the correct terminology is 'hoorah'
I have a quick question. Where are those advertising $$$ that were promised to me when I signed up and you guys said that when you started ads, we'd get the proft? Or am I just imagining things.
Sorry, I worded that wrong. What I meant is that you guys probably make a lot more off of it than you're telling us.
We were promised 90% of the ad-revenue from our own columns. Which is what we've had.
Therefore, the more your articles are read, the more you make. The amount of reading over the rest of the site doesn't affect it.
Yes, but I doubt that they are being 100% truthful about the true incoming sum
We're never going to know.
I trust them, I don't think they'd want to upset members in that way. Especially when they'll be generating enough money off other pages on the site such as AP and the category pages. Thats probably got to match if not beat what all the members earn put together.
Most of us didn't come here for the money anyway, its a bonus. I'm here for reading some different news, from different sources and getting to discuss it with like minded people.
I've definately 'gotten smarter here'
Isn't it, the more you post and the more popular your column is, the more you make? I don't think you make money from viewing ads, just serving them.
Well it all adds up:
The more you post, the more popular your column becomes, so your articles are read more, so the more money you make.
(I think you miss understood the "the more your articles are read" as me reading articles - I'm aware that doesn't earn you money)
I find that insulting to our hosts, and for no reason. If that is how you feel, you don't need to be here.
Anyone who is here solely for the money should have heeded the many warnings that I saw when I signed up, that pay would be a long time coming and even then wouldn't make me rich. Which I took as an understatement.
Aside from the experience of participating, the value is in exposure for our names, ideas and writing.
Go do content writing for 1 cent a word if you want a steady income.
What I just wrote was @Shell.
Whoops!
Lee, I read you wrong. I missed the "your" in your sentence, so I thought you said, "the more articles you read..."
Sorry.
Thanks Pauline and Lee. Yep, that is correct.
As for Shell, I think the best thing to do if you have any suspicion that a web site is being untruthful to you is to not visit it. This goes for us, Google, Yahoo, and everybody else. And yes, it goes without saying that I'm insulted someone would even suggest this.
Sorry if you feel insulted but I know people with similar advertisement schemes that make more money than this.
Shell: Not even sure why I'm responding to this, but I didn't understand any of that. Similar advertising "schemes" means what? Make more money than "this" means what? You appear to have written 3 articles and seeded 11 links in June which garnered a total of 14 votes put together (and you can vote on your own stuff if you'd like). This in a month where one ad was run on a fraction of pages for less than a month. I'm not making a statement of contribution quality at all here. I'm just saying, do the math.
I'll repeat my previous statement: I would never use a site that I thought was being untruthful. I think all people should live by this rule.
*screams bloody murder at Mike and walks off*
"Murder! Bloody murder!" yelled the man from Ironbark.
There's probably not many of us on Newsvine who'd actually get that reference. Bajo does bring the amusement!
Banjo!
::sigh:: I really need to read things through before hitting the post button
Whilst I'm happy for Newsvine to get more ads I'd hardly call it an influx.
What would you call it compared to the 1 ad that ran sporadically during June?
Anymore of an "influx" and the aesthetic of the site would have to be compromised. I think they've hit a perfect saturation point.
I'd agree. They've got all their advertising points filled, except for perhaps a custom one in the rss feed, but that would be more difficult to track.
It might just be me but I only see about another 5 at the very most. I'd be more tempted to see where these ads lead if I hadn't seen them all already. Newsvine involves searching and reading through loads of different articles, so if someone is going to see the same ad more than once, is he/she really going to click on it, or even pay attention to it?
Mike B. ,
from what I understand, and from what I've seen in this screenshot (from Welcome to Federated Media's Planning Tool!, where advertisers can create campaigns), advertisers pay for impressions, not clicks.
Hopefully the quality advertising will draw in more contributors with the hoping of making a few extra cents contributing to the site. A little activity isn't going to make you rich, but, for a few minutes of work each day you can bring in a few pennies.
Brian,
If this is the saturation point we may as well hang up our typewriter ribbons now. This level of advertising will not sustain much of a site. Keep tuned you may see what real advertising really is. I don't like intrusive annoying ads but the only other way to develop revenue would be to pay for the privilege of being here.
I love this.
And actually, that's the way I found out about the Mac Pro :D
What? You mean you didn't watch the stream on Monday... ;)
Yes, definitely check out the WWDC keynote. You get to see some cool new Leopard features and some good, old fashioned Microsoft bashing with it.
Again Vine never ever promised to pay a lot of money, they never said quit your day job. I can think of only think of one site that pays like Vine and that is Squidoo. Netscape is a joke 1000$ is great for the few that get it but that is a marketing ploy for web traffic. Vine is sharing and encouraging monetary policy that may be successfully . I sure hope its is because this is a great site with lots of future. Keep up the good work everybody.
I hope I get up to the $50 that's required for them to send a check. :)