Can someone get rid of that Special K advert!

[al_coholic]

I think most of us take this site for granted and would be devastated if it stopped. I imagine that most people like myself have no idea about the cost of running the site.

BTW - I actually like Special K !!!

[verrymerry]

I personally love that (especially in this thread) Neil also has ads in his signature!

[Paul ™]

I think most of us take this site for granted and would be devastated if it stopped. I imagine that most people like myself have no idea about the cost of running the site.

[MikeyB37]

So please play the game folks, and add exceptions to your ad-blockers to allow ads to display from this site - it simply is the case of do it or lose it.

[eFestivals]

Done

thank you.

[norainplease]

I have to admit that I have never really been all that bothered by the ads on this site, or any other to be fair! The internet in the main is a fantastic source of free information and we would all be lost with out it.

I had no idea that efests was having issues with the revenue from advertisers, but I suppose if you think about it that's not surprising in the current climate?

Anything we can do to help Neil?

I would personally be very sad to see efestivals go, I have made lots of friends here and spend many a boring hour at work in the company of some excellent people!

[darrenbha]

On the subject of revenue we'll be buying some more merchandise soon but would be happy to pay some form of subscription if it came to it. No idea how to block ads so that won't be an issue from here

[elfimaju]

Neil - you have my sympathy and some of the naive comments on here don't help. I work in media for an established brand that relies on advertising for 70%+ of its revenue and we're seeing 25%+ year on year declines, as is everyone. Thankfully, we've got a new owner with potentially deep pockets but many other ad revenue-reliant businesses are really struggling, including big ones (ITV, Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press to name but a few). As a point of interest, we placed ads on here (not pop up ones BTW!) through your sales house and this was one of our top sites in terms of response - and my brand is not one you would see as having a natural fit. Good luck and I'm happy to click, subscribe and do whatever it takes.

[eFestivals]

Neil - you have my sympathy and some of the naive comments on here don't help. I work in media for an established brand that relies on advertising for 70%+ of its revenue and we're seeing 25%+ year on year declines, as is everyone. Thankfully, we've got a new owner with potentially deep pockets but many other ad revenue-reliant businesses are really struggling, including big ones (ITV, Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press to name but a few). As a point of interest, we placed ads on here (not pop up ones BTW!) through your sales house and this was one of our top sites in terms of response - and my brand is not one you would see as having a natural fit. Good luck and I'm happy to click, subscribe and do whatever it takes.

yup, it's hard out there at the moment. I'm keeping everything very firmly crossed that things will be OK, but they won't be if the downturn I've seen i9n February is repeated thru the year .... I'm still hopeful tho, cos January was good, and the new style efests website is attracting many more users and will hopefully make potential advertisers look more fondly on the site (I'm aware that some had an issue with the old style).

As for your new owner's deep pockets .... erm ..... well .... I can only think you've fallen for the bullshit that surrounds him. He's certainly massively less wealthy than many of the claims I've read about him, and it's not as tho the £1 he shelled out to buy the business stretched him very hard. Best of luck with him, but I suspect that things will go tits up there very rapidly.

[chilli78]

If the ad's were the old school JPG/GIF ones I don't think anyone would have an issue. Its the 'move your mouse in the approximate direction and have your screen obscured by crap you don't want' type ads that annoy.

It's kinda like being in the supermarket and someone YELLING IN YOUR FACE ABOUT SPECIAL K

As it is I have a proposition. I'm going to turn my ad blocker off for a couple of days and click any ad I see....

[Funkfarley]

If the ad's were the old school JPG/GIF ones I don't think anyone would have an issue. Its the 'move your mouse in the approximate direction and have your screen obscured by crap you don't want' type ads that annoy.

It's kinda like being in the supermarket and someone YELLING IN YOUR FACE ABOUT SPECIAL K

As it is I have a proposition. I'm going to turn my ad blocker off for a couple of days and click any ad I see....

[chilli78]

Doesn't the screen scroll down if you just run your finger down the right side of the trackpad?

[Funkfarley]

Doesn't the screen scroll down if you just run your finger down the right side of the trackpad?

[Spiderden]

Doesn't the screen scroll down if you just run your finger down the right side of the trackpad?

[Funkfarley]

Or he could just click on the page then use the down arrow key on his keyboard

[chilli78]

OMG! Yeah.

Well...whaddya know!

Dont stop special K pissing me off though!

Thanks!

[Fairies for Change]

Have now added eFestivals as an exception on adblock.

Would also be very happy to pay an appropriate subscription if this were needed in order to generate revenue. My only concern (for eFestivals) is that it would put off new traffic... so I think there would need to be some element of free view and paid for.

I work alongside the ad industry and fear that this year is going to get a lot tougher in terms of ad revenues. So you have my sympathies Neil. That said I do know that a lot of brands are considered digital over print/static media ads as they cost less to develop and run - plus potential return is much greater.

And as for 'fit' to the eFestivals brand... well given the range of lifestages, interests, demographics etc who use this site then I think there are certainly lot of brands who see their target audience here

I for one am just about to click through on the DFS ad I can see to my right

[Paul ™]

Would also be very happy to pay an appropriate subscription if this were needed in order to generate revenue. My only concern (for eFestivals) is that it would put off new traffic... so I think there would need to be some element of free view and paid for.

[eFestivals]

Have now added eFestivals as an exception on adblock.

thank you.

Would also be very happy to pay an appropriate subscription if this were needed in order to generate revenue. My only concern (for eFestivals) is that it would put off new traffic... so I think there would need to be some element of free view and paid for.

the subscription would be optional - it would be a case of free and you get the ads, or pay and have no ads.

I hope to have things sorted today for people to opt for the subscription service.

======

It's defo hard in the ad market right now - for the first time ever I've just had nme phone up trying to get me to advertise with them.

Edited March 12, 2009 by eFestivals

[Paul ™]

It's defo hard in the ad market right now - for the first time ever I've just had nme phone up trying to get me to advertise with them.

[eFestivals]

What was your answer

i said to send me the details ... but I also gave the poor woman some shit for trying to mis-sell their advertising, cos she over-stated their sales numbers by about 25%.

[bombfrog]

There are much better ways of making money out of a website than showing completely irrelevant ads.

[Katster]

What would the subscription fee be, very roughly? Just to give me an idea.....?

[chilli78]

* Contextual text adverts perform MUCH better than banner ads in most cases and forum software often allows you to insert ads into the flow of the thread. If these ads are relevant they are more likely to be clicked. Although, regular users will soon become blind to those too. Coupling these with a subscription model to remove them would be best. Make it easy and cheap to subscribe though.

[Runner]

It's such a pain in the arse! Hey ho ... keep smiling!