Will we now get two pop-over ads every time we come to PVC? One for Sony, one for Dell?
Posted by IEBA on 02/09 at 08:16 AM
Nobody like Popup ads.
However, PVC is free for everyone to read and only supports paying the writers via ad revenue. This market used to be flush with lots of ads in the past, but in today’s economy, there isn’t much.
I myself don’t like popups, but without them, PVC might not exist. The alternative is that we offer paid access to the site.
If there was a lot more vendors wishing to advertise at decent rates we’d turn down popups for certain.
Case in point: Sony is supporting our site and that has made keeping the site going and paying writers, overhead, etc possible.
Another major camera vendor will only advertise if they get several months of free ads on the site. If their response was positive they’d advertise.
My response to them was the following: Let me borrow one of your cameras for a few months for free. If I win an Academy Award, I’ll pay for it and continue to use it. If not,then the camera didn’t work properly.
The point is that we provide the space and the pageviews. If the client’s ad is terrible and nobody clicks on it, that’s not our fault.
I point this out only to say that this market peaked as a business for publishers in 2004 and has dropped every year by nearly 40% ever since.
We barely make enough to keep things going. The choice then becomes take a popup ad, or close shop.
No kidding.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/11 at 04:10 PM
Having single handedly published an entertainment production magazine in 1997, I understand your plight well. The flip side is that sites with collected quality are endangered by independents who throw up whatever they want on a blog with no expectation of payment. Remember CrispyFeeds- aggregating dozens of industry-related sites (including mine).
Add to this the plethora of print, and you have a lot of competition for limited ad dollars.
But, OTOH, if critical mass were to take place, and everything fold that really doesn’t get enough money, then the companies that want to advertise would actually have a hard time doing so- because there’s be no established platform to advertise in, just hundreds of personal blogs and trying to manage that advertising campaign is not worth it.
It’s almost like the production community today, prices plummet because so many are looking for work (including anyone who bought a vDSLR and instantly became a “filmmaker”) and people will take whatever they can get, at whatever price, and that just hurts everyone.
Sorry for the rant, but I feel for ya, I really do.
I’ve run my site on my own, then with corporate “support” where I didn’t see a dime for years of work, and now back on my own again. It’s a hard market, but thankfully I make my money on the production side. 
Posted by IEBA on 02/15 at 08:07 PM
