I actually did a presentation on the pros of advertising for one of my public speaking classes in college.
That's not why I'm commenting though, it was just apropo. Anyway, there's a several year old but valid old G4 video I like to point people too. Really only the first part is relevant to this, but in it Morgan Webb explains quite succinctly the value of advertising. That's why I only used AdBlock on UStream that one night when Nash had to be there exclusively because of DMCA, and as he pointed he didn't get any money from those ads.
The link to the video ishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zB-gGWxWc if you or anyone reading this wants to check it out, but the line that I think puts it best (which I chose to open my speech on why I like advertising) is "I would learn about hemorrhoid cream than have to fork over $20 every time I wanna watch CSI."
I tend to have a sucky internet speed and yet I still watch your ads, yes sometimes your product is not up to par for me but I feel that thirty seconds(or a minute as the ads seem to freeze on me because of my connection) is warranted so that you can continue your craft. I will more than likely be buying one of your shirts in the coming weeks
I... I didn't know. OH DEAR LORD, I'M SORRY; I DIDN'T KNOW!!!!! I thought page counts were the main source of ad revenue data. Honestly, thanks for bringing this to my attention.
I have since fixed my ad-blocking on all the web comics and shows that I regularly read and support.
How in the HELL do you make enough money doing videos to support an apartment?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLY?! There can't be THAT much money in doing what you do, can there?! Good gravy Linkara, you're amazingly lucky. This whole time I was thinking you work at a bookstore...
and I let the ads play, I just usually get up and get a glass of water or some chips. I don't have to watch'em lol. But WOW, seriously my mind is blown. Atop The Fourth Wall IS your job...WOW! Just...wow...
DvD should come out soonish then? Duuude, that's sewing machine!
By the way, I did see advertisements in the last AVGN video. I'm not sure that ads not showing here is a technical issue on my side or just that it's a different company. I'll try to look at blip too though, I don't watch any videos straight from there.
I've been having some issues with the ads that run on blip. The ad would play but would never go back to the actual video itself, kind of leaving me in limbo. Other times the ad would play with your video playing in the background. It's pretty annoying because I want to watch the ads so you'll get your piece of the pie, but I'll end up turn it on in order to watch your stuff.
"How in the HELL do you make enough money doing videos to support an apartment?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLY?! There can't be THAT much money in doing what you do, can there?! Good gravy Linkara, you're amazingly lucky. This whole time I was thinking you work at a bookstore..."
When I started, I was working at Barnes and Noble. While I'm actually someone who enjoys retail work, I was making more money doing AT4W and it was more worth my time to devote all of my energy to it, especially when I was beginning to do storyline stuff.
jokes aside. I really had adblocker for a long time, mostly because I thought that videomakers get paid by Views not by Adviews. Stupid I know, as soon someone mentioned it, I turned it off. The ads take maybe 30 seconds and they help to keep my favorite shows alive, I can live with that.
What I think that should exist is a Ad volume controller App. that tones down the volume when an Ad is playing, it is ridiculous how loud some ads are in comparison to the actual video and I think most people have headsets on. My head nearly exploded so many times due to this...
As you said they are repetitive, I'm sometimes cool with that. However that gets into the main reason I block ads...
We don't live in an equal society. Everyday I'm bombarded with billboards, print ads, those little plastic signs on the side of the road, TV ads, radio ads all telling me I am a worthless human being and someone else's property as well as telling me other people because of certain things are worthless. You can probably get what I getting at... Ads for diet products, misogynistic ads for deoderant/cars/website hosting, etc. Enough is enough and when I can turn that crap off, I do. If I could chose what ads I want to see that'd be great, but that's not how Blip currently works. It doesn't give me a choice as thus I gotta protect myself and my mental health and turn it all off. You might argue that one more ad wouldn't hurt, but it does, because this is something I finally have control over. I can finally say "You know what ad people, I'm not going to listen!"
I am, however, glad there is a donate button, as it does allow for us that have reasons to block all the ads (other people might get triggered by certain ads, tired of the garbage, don't have any regional ads, etc.) a way to directly support the show and give back without the guilt trip of basically being told by people that "You are a worthless human being for doing such a terrible thing!" (Yes I've seen that.)
"When I started, I was working at Barnes and Noble. While I'm actually someone who enjoys retail work, I was making more money doing AT4W and it was more worth my time to devote all of my energy to it, especially when I was beginning to do storyline stuff."
I don't know if you're insane, genius or just really lucky...
Blip uses Google to provide ads, and Google allows syndication, which means that they can sell that ad space to companies that can sell ad space to companies that can sell ad space to companies that don't care if the ads people take out contain viruses and malware.
Sorry, as long as Blip uses Google and Google allows fourth/fifth/sixth/whatever-party content, I'll have to block the ads until there's no way I can get a virus from them.
It's rather sad that you had to make this PSA because people wouldn't get why using adblock was harmful to you, and everybody at Channel Awesome. Hopefully you'll get more money now.
I tried to white-list this blog and TGWTG, but for some reason I cannot get that to work. Oh well, I'll just continue to pause Adblock every time I watch videos.
Also I dunno if it's just me, but the video seemed really choppy. It got better closer to the end, but I couldn't help but notice.
I was someone who hated the ads. I don't like watching them. It is sometimes annoying when some casters put two in middle of videos. I do watch the ads really when I learn how much supports the producers on blip and casters on twitch. What you guys do is awesome and I wish I could do it myself. I have been inspired by a bunch of you guys. Why I would never use ad blocker other then watching nash on ustream. As a matter of fact I feel dirty even having it.
I think this was really classy and neat of you to put up this vid explaining things more.
For anyone reading the comments and is still confused about 'White listing' most ad blockers have a 'help' section to tell you how or you can google it.
For those that have issues with the banner ads stalling the video, usually you can pause and wait for the ad to pass then resume. Yes, it can be annoying that way but it is a work around for slower connections. (and I'm referring to the ads that show up on the blip videos, I know your blog is ad free otherwise.)
There IS also ways to block specific site ads without blocking blip, (if the ads on say TGWTGs are causing a problem) it's just a little trickier but usually when an ad is blocked you can open the list of what has been blocked and chose what to white list.
I get frustrated when I see the 90 second blip thing because it's almost always on the computer where there is NO ad blocker installed. I know I need to get in touch with Blip about their issues more directly, that isn't your fault.
Though I would like to know how wide spread it is and if others are having the problem perhaps if we're all telling Blip what's going on they can fix it.
I've never minded sitting through ads for internet programming. I DO have ad blocker on my laptop but your blog, Channel Awesome, Blip, Blistered Thumbs, etc. are white listed.
I don't have cable or satellite anymore (too expensive) so I'll gladly sit through the ads on the internet programming because hell, then I'm more directly supporting the shows I watch vs. most of the stuff on some cable channels. (Hell, watching Sanctuary on Syfy and sitting through the ads didn't save it so yeah, more direct is better).
Forgive if I'm being slow but is Harvey's Christmas Album still available?
Y'know, I really wish all the individual producers did this, even before the forced 90 second thing. I felt like and continue to feel like this is the right way to go with getting people to stop using adblockers. When you do what Blip has done with forcing people to choose only between waiting three times the length of an ad or white-listing, it creates an unnecessary air of hostility in all directions, between viewers, producers, and Blip. Disgruntled viewers hatefully spite producers for Blip's methods, insulted producers dismissing said spiteful viewers' complaints... I feel like it all could've been avoided had producers just, well, done what this video's doing.
When a big, faceless company does something like strong-arming the audience into doing something, it causes a feeling of resentment from being forced to do something they may not want to do or don't understand (and even if they do understand, they may still be resentful just from the lack of choice itself). However, with something like this explaining the need for ads and requesting that the audience let them play, it's a personal request from an individual producer the audience is a fan of. It's a plea that can be identified with and given a face, and when presented as a choice, there's less chance of stirred-up spite and more chance of people agreeing to help out.
Of course I understand why Blip as a whole decided to do things like this, attempting to lasso every single ad-blocker user in and have the most potential chance of reaching them and thus regaining as much lost potential revenue as possible. If this course of action absolutely had to be followed, I do wish that, instead, individual producers had the option of turning on or off the 90 second message, maybe even customizing it to be less sterile and more personal, so again it's a choice between producer and viewer, but... I guess I don't really know for certain what would or will end up being best, that's just how I feel.
Regardless, concerning your videos, I'll admit I'd been using ad-blocker on them for the 3+ years I've been watching them, simply because I had ad-blocker on for everything. When you tweeted recently about being concerned about ads not being visible for some and requested people go archive-digging to make up for it, and as I was going through all your videos again anyway, I white-listed the site and watched all the ads.
I have since white-listed blip.tv in general just to avoid the 90 second thing, but even if that weren't there, I'd still keep your site white-listed. You came out, informed your audience of this plight that many weren't even aware of, and politely asked them to do this thing as a small favor to you, to help you personally. And in the wake of the tense air that arose from this change in policy, I'm glad that I was able to choose to help someone whose creative endeavours I enjoy, rather than being told to.
I might have a bit of a weird situation, then. I clearly don't have AdBlock, since sometimes the ads do play (and I do let them play out). Other times, the tracker goes over the ad marker and the video resumes right after a short fade to black. Sometimes there aren't any markers on the video tracking bar. Could this be a technical issue?
Yesterday was my first encounter with the blip notification. I still haven't installed AdBlock or anything of the sort. I thought it might be the browser setting, but after checking, the only thing I didn't allow was pop-ups. It's still the same after I tried watching with a different browser.
Believe me, I'm more than happy to let the ads play, especially if it means supporting the producer. I don't know if this is an issue regarding region or maybe the ads just play sporadically for me or Southeast Asia, for that matter.
I hope things will start looking up soon. What you and the other producers do are amazing.
Here's the problem I'm having. I use program that updates my HOSTS file to block potentially nasty sites. Ads and ad streams are also part of that list, and since I'm not the one writing the list I have no control over what goes into it.
I have the ability to whitelist, and indeed I had already disabled the ad blocking for Hulu and Springboard ages ago. Blip is proving to be a problem, though.
With Hulu and Springboard, all I had to do was whitelist their domains and that was the end of it. I tried that with Blip and it keeps saying I'm blocking them. This means that they're using a third-party domain for their ads, and since I don't know which one it is I can't whitelist it.
If anyone here knows which url or urls blip draws its ads from, I would appreciate it.
YAY! NO more guilt! No idea why I'm not getting advertisements maybe it's cause I'm in Canada but I used to get them then I didn't then I did now I don't As soon as paypal is set up I can alleviate the guilt I feel over not supporting your show.
I don't mind the 30 second ad's and I don't use ad blocker. Lately the only ones that annoy me are the small pop up banner like ads during the videos. They seem to pop up all the time during the videos even after clicking the close button on them. That get's distracting and annoying. But that might be something Blip is doing.
It's nice to hear this is something that is able to sustain you.
I admit, I watched like 10 episodes over the past day or so with an ad-blocker...now that its fixed would watching them again or at least letting the ad run make up for the lost views and/or refreshing to trigger more ads being viewed fix it? Just a curiosity
I haven't seen much ads lately on your vids, it was interesting that you mentioned the UK in addition to the US... I would think Canada would be an easy revenue stream for blip because a lot of advertising geared to the US still work for Canada.
That said there have been occasions in the past (not lately) where blip has stuck me with ads in excess of five minutes, or even ten. In those cases I've skipped the ad and tried to reload the video later to get a better ad and still count as a "watched" for that video. (Though I tend to watch episodes multiple times regardless.)
Anyway as someone who has been trying to get into the biz, even though I have yet to produce the first episode of my show I know how long it takes to edit and put this stuff together. So I'm glad to watch any ads they see fit to show me up here in the great North, but I definitely understand the concerns of Maverynthia and others... so I'm glad the donate button is there too.
"Sorry, as long as Blip uses Google and Google allows fourth/fifth/sixth/whatever-party content, I'll have to block the ads until there's no way I can get a virus from them."
There already is no way to get a virus from them. It is completely impossible to get a virus from a video advertisement without clicking on the link.
Why was this video edited to be viewed like someone having a seizure? Anyway, I don't use any adblock software at all, advertisements simply don't bother me that much. I don't see how sitting through a movie trailer or 30 seconds of a product you're never going to use is THAT much of a bother. I know DVRs are all of the rage these days but maybe growing up in a time where you we're used to 4-minute long interruptions in a show every 10 minutes carried a use? Anyway, Link, you've my support on in the in-video ads and likely in product purchasing and even the "Donate" button.
Since this is the first time I approach, may I first say that I have watched and enjoyed your videos for some time and that you are a charmer? Excellent energy, all that.
Anyway.
I understand that people get prickly about these things, entitlement and attention issues abounds. It's still a good idea I think to bring attention to the problem(s) like this, some people just don't know. I'm sorry you're catching undue flack for it - it's really unseemly.
I have used adblock+ since basically its inception for all those necessary self-protection reasons, and I have always whitelisted tiny sites that need and deserve my support. (Blip and associated sites included - if you think having someone put together a little graph on how to whitelist things in ABP that could be arranged?) It's just the proper thing to do. However! I am from the frozen north where Blip apparently see no reason to push ads any more (they used to try and sell me cars, but that was years ago). This makes me feel awkward! I wish to be helpful, and even though I am sure you've considered this in great detail I still have to ask:
Is there some specific reason that keeps you from uploading a mirror archive of your things on youtube? Perhaps older things for starters? I realise yt is no doubt subpar and I expect they generate significantly less $/view, but. They have (mechanically - as in the things will generally play, and they cover more regions) more friendly ads and as some jerks seem fond of upload your things there anyway it would funnel the attention to the deserving party: you. I don't know, but I doubt a yt archive would detract much attention from your Blip things, aide from how it would be much easier to navigate - at least in theory.
Thank you very much for your tireless work! Chin up, and all that.
Hi, I always watch your ads because 30 seconds of my time is nothing. I actually get pretty frustrated that the mid ads tend to get region blocked for me, except on random occasions which I still haven't worked out the pattern to. I recently got an ad-blocker but I unblock ads on sites such as this blog and tgwtg.com because I know it supports you guys doing things I love to watch.
And even your one minute of ads is still way less ads than TV.
Question about the Ads that you get revenue, do you get revenue for click-through ads as well? Meaning if there is an ad playing and there is a link within the ad itself do you get extra if people click to go to that site?
Firstly my internet connection is so bad that a 30 second ad stutters and stalls and takes about 90 seconds to play in the first place, so 90 seconds of automatic silence is preferabbly anyway.
Secondly because of my crap internet connection the video keeps crashing and I have to reload it for whatever reason. I once had to reload the video just to watch the last 2 minutes of the stinger.
I tried the ethical route of not using ad-blocker but it became such a chore to sit through ads six times to just watch one video that I ended up turning ad-blocker on after the first time just so I could watch it.
Also here's my question: At what point is 30 seconds too much? I mean yeah in a 30 minute video a 30 second ad is 1/60th of it. But if the video is, say, 3 minutes long and it has a 30 second ad, I'd be wasting 1/6th of that time watching ads. I know a lot of people would keep pushing the boundary and say 'yes but 1/60th is bad enough anyway' etc etc, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this. At what point does it become acceptable to not watch a 30 second ad cos the video itself is too short in comparison?
To start with, let me say that I've whitelisted you and have endured the ads for some time now.
That said, I feel adblockers are a good thing. Before their advent and commonplace usage, ads were getting more invasive and obnoxious. Now they're getting more unintrusive in hopes that you'll leave them unblocked.
Advertising as it currently exists is insulting. Almost every word in them is a lie, and they use the basest of techniques to mislead you into giving money.
Over time, there's been this conflict between customers and advertisers. Advertising gets more intrusive and more personal, customers find better ways to circumvent them. Now, with adblocker, advertisers can't reach customers at all, so they strike back the only way they can, through producers of content. They make Linkara and others like him take the hit for problems that resulted from THEIR practices.
This is in sharp contrast with the work Linkara himself does, which is "provide a product, let it sell itself."
Linkara, I sincerely hope that at some point soon, you find that you make SO much money with the donation system and with your merchandise that you can afford to completely disable the ads on your videos. At that point, you will be providing a product, and your customers will be giving you money for it. Capitalism without the middleman.
The ads annoy and offend customers (not all, but I'm not alone), and do nothing to benefit creators. That's why they have to PAY creators to let them show up. I get that getting the word out about a product is important, but how many ads have YOU seen lately that are for products you'd never heard of?
TL;DR: We block ads because ADS SUCK. They can't reach us, so they're hurting creators. I want Linkara et al to be able to pay bills, so I whitelist. But I hate it and it must die.
Also very stupid question with very obvious answer that isn't something that can be affected by you personally but: Why do you intergrate ads into the video itself? Rather than have the ad be a seperate entity, tack it onto the first 30 seconds of the video and make it the first 30 seconds. That way you'll get paid since it'd be harder to bypass, meanwhile the ad gets seen by more because no one is gonna be able to put adblock on something that's on the actual video.
I mean I know this is all hypothetical postulating, but why not just find a sponser and do it that way? Even if it's just a 5 second TV spot it'll still be smarter in the long run for advertisers.
I haven't Adblock when I look AT4W,but I have the 90 second message AND the advertisement (at the beginning and in the midddle of the video) so... It's a bit long ^^" but I still leave it and click on the ad when it comes.
I appreciate how you went about requesting this. Recently, another producer basically insulted a fan for complaining that 2 midrolls was excessive for a 15 minute video and I agree with the fan. I like the way you do ads with one midroll in a video. I have actually stopped watching this other producers videos because of their treatment of the whole thing. I turned off adblock about a week ago when I found out it affected revenue and I wish you the best.
Yay, DVD coming soon! Been looking forward to that for a while.
Anyway, I've never had ad block and have recently started an archive-binge on Blip. Sometimes the ads just don't play, and I'm sorry for that, but I've still heard all those ads enough to be able to recite them word-for-word. Good luck!
If you have control over what ads to display, then I thank you. The ads that are displayed are very family friendly. They're usually just ads for cell phones or Disneyland.
I've sometimes wondered though what your conversations are like when someone asks "So what do you do for a living?"
I've always just mute the adds and maybe looked at something else for the next 30 seconds. I'm with you Lewis, it's no big deal. I wish I could say it's because I'm noble and was always thinking about your wellbeing but mostly it's because it's the easiest way of dealing with the ads.
Do you ever wonder what you'd do if you ran out of bad comics to review? I know how DC and Marvel act that sounds impossible but over the past year and a half of the show the number of bad/awful comics shown here has been going down and the number of mediocre/good comics going up. There will always be bad comics but whether there will always be enough for a weekly show is another matter. You have to mine for material and whether you're mining for gold, coal or bad comics all mines become unsustainable sooner or later. I don't want to come off as doom and gloom, I'm just concerned about whether you know what to do after AT4W?
You mean I have to waste 30 precious seconds looking at ads? Sorry, my time is much too valuable.
I kid, I kid. Yeah, the ads are repetitive, but they're over with pretty quick, and it's a small price to pay(so to speak) for a pretty entertaining show-even for someone like me, who restricts herself mainly to fantasy/horror comics.
Besides, the ads I see don't affect me anyway-I don't eat at Denny's, I don't play video games, and the last time I was at Disney World was in 1999 for my Grad Nite. Though I must admit-walking around the Magic Kingdom at 2 30 in the morning isn't something I'll ever forget.
Quick off-topic question: Any plans to do more 'Tales from the Crypt' comics on the Longbox? I ask because they were the first comics I ever read.
I am kind of frustrated with the whole ad thing. To make matters even worse, I had a bad experience with the Awesome Store so even if I order the DVD, I am unsure if I will even get it. I'll think about donating directly.
Hey I wonder... What if people used a proxy to view the videos? If it's a regional thing, shouldn't it be possible to bypass that? Then again it's a bit of a hassle but maybe it could work.
I do not use an adblocker at all, and I still got the "wait 90 seconds screen" today. I'm not sure why... and it's kind of ironic considering I've been marathoning videos to try and get your add revenue up by letting the ads play. (No, not blaming you - just a fan of irony.)
I was wondering about the ads that pop up sometimes as the video is playing - not video ads, but the little ones that come up at the bottom of the video screen. Do those affect your revenue as well? (I don't close them since they're silent and don't really bother me, but just curious.)
At any rate, appreciate the Youtube message explaining the situation.
Now I feel a bit guilty although I do leave the ad's running (muted of course) but I feel guilty that I can't watch every episode (I tend to get backed up on your video's since I watch your blog with all the other blogs)
It's more due time then any thing but I'll try and watch as many of your videos as I can (with the ads only muted) I've accepted that Ads are apart of the media and the ads on blip are mearly annoying but not as bad as TV so I don't want to do anything about them
just thought i would leave a comment too. having only watched AT4W for a couple months i have come to enjoy the show. this enjoyment has led me to white list the blog to support the show. keep on trucking Linkara!
Ya know, I truly wish I could leave my AdBlocker off but it's just not feasibly realistic. I've had it happen numerous times where a video that is supposed to start runs the ad and then fails to load. It's annoying as hell when it happens with the opening ad but it's pretty intolerable when it happens with the mid-video ads. I don't know if its my internet absolutely sucking (even over various internet providers through the years), my hardware sucking (even with various computers and modems involved) or Blip just being garbage but I just cannot deal with it. It turns these videos that are supposed to be entertainment into aggravation.
Honestly I'd rather be able to skip the ads by donating or buying product from the producer than watching those ads.
Ok how do I get in contact with blip about the advertisement thing? Cause when I watched your regular reviews the ads play fine, but then I tried watching one of your vlogs and I got the 90 sec. thing which never happened before.
I don't know why people have such a problem. They have ads before movies and on TV right? I wish you had addressed the one or two who like to put you down for having the nerve to want to make money for your product. How dare you want to be able to afford food! I admit when I started watching your stuff I watched on YouTube because, well, didn't care. Now that I am a huge fan and respect you and everyone else I always watch content on the site. Why is it so hard for some people to ignore ads? Keep up the good work!
Wait. I live in Canada... and you're saying the ads only play if I was living in the USA or in UK? Well, that certainly explains why they don't play where I live.
However, I still find it odd about it. They used to be played whenever I watched one of your videos or one of Doug Walker's videos, and yet they don't play where I live anymore. It sucks that I can't have the ads.
usually only in the USA or UK.... well that explains why ive never had to watch ads on blip, i dont have an adblocker so ive wondered why i cant see your ads.(i live in norway)
I never quite understood the point in ad blockers. At the most you're waiting three minutes for something to be done and it's only one or two per video. Hell, sometimes you get lucky and it's about something you like, such as the last few weeks where the Star Trek: Into Darkness trailer has continually shown up on Blip.
Knew about this a long time ago when mid-vid ads began to show up. I never use ad-blockers, but maybe because I live in Canada blip just don't have ads for me. Youtube does though.
Now I don't know how much Youtube pays compare to blip, but maybe you can consider putting up youtube mirrors for us out-of-towners?
I really don't mind the ads, to be honest. Most of the time I use your show as background "noise" while I'm playing a game or something. Except when it's a new episode, of course. Other than that I don't even need to see what's going on, I can picture it when I hear it. Come to think of it, that sound a bit sad. On the other hand, you got me into reading comics, so I'm more than happy to support your show. Keep it up Lewis!
Well I had AdBlocker on with your site disabled. Today I disabled the entire AdBlock to see how it will look and if it's looks OK I'll remove it so at least you'll get there money from me since I can't afford to pay anything.
I actually had a filter that let blip ads go through. Since blip started the heavy-handed nonsense, the filter has failed. I'm getting the 90 second anti-ad despite having ALWAYS let them play. Disabling Adblock flat out isn't an option, so here's what I've been doing: at work, I open a window in the background and call up the blip pages of people I regularly watch (Atop the 4th wall, Doug Walker, SFdebris, etc.) and then play a random video. Those videos are on autoplay, ads intact. I've been letting them loop for roughly 6 hours a night. I can't do that at home as without Adblock blip also crashes like crazy thanks to being stuck on Windows 8.
A shame the old trick for dealing with blip ads stopped working: back in the day you could click on an ad and it would end, and your pop-up blocker would prevent the new page from opening. I guess advertisers felt that wasn't a good use of them despite, you know, us still seeing a bit of the ad.
I've never used ad-blockers in the past, and to this day, never plan to, despite how badly I'd really love to. (Many advertisements annoy me to no end, most of all ones that forcefully pull up another window, to try and avoid you closing it before their advertisement can load.)
However, I know advertisements are there for a reason. Heck, my father at one point used advertisements on his own personal business website as a means of getting a little extra money on the side, to help pay for bills and such, beyond his employment at that time, and I know how little you get for seemingly countless views/clicks, which of what I know, has reduced EVEN MORE to this day. So, I truly do feel where you're coming from with this one, Lewis.
Much like with Sean(HopeWithinChaos) I gladly donate a couple bucks to producers I like, when I have the opportunity and ability to do so, and considering I've watched your entire library of reviews more than once, I can say with certainty you're among the online producers that I genuinely am happy to support, even if my donation is just enough to get you a sandwich or a beverage of some sort.
I'll stop before I ramble too much, all in all, keep up the amazing work Lewis, and know I'm stickin with you no matter where this train derails and jumps off to in the future. You sir, are a great guy. =)
Another suggestion for people with problematic adblockers is to try and use another browser program to watch the show on. My default is firefox but I watch your show on google chrome because the chrome version of my adblocker lets me whitelist your site without issues while my firefox chokes half the time. Love your shows and hope this helps you out Lewis.
Honest question - how much would I have to donate using the Donate button in order to equal the revenue you would lose from me using AdBlock on the next 100 episodes? And is this a fair trade from your perspective, or are there other complications?
im out of the zone of advertisment, i put your site, TGWTG and blip in the white list anyway in case my country start to get ads, i dont have a credit card to purchase or donate, but i want to thanks you for the effort. when i get a credit card im going to donate because you make a great show and it shines, for all that thx.
P.S: BTW you do international shipping of the t-shirts to south america?
I always watch the ads at the beginning of videos, even though sometimes blip can get weird and freeze on ads and just not continue. Still, when that happens I just wait, because it usually fixes itself. I don't have the resources to buy a shirt or anything (i wish I did) but I always make sure to support the show by watching the ads. I hope you can keep going for a long time.
Unfortunately, AdBlocker is a necessity for me in my current predicament. When I.watched using a computer, I kept the ads on. However, I am currently without a computer, and so my only connection to the internet is an Android phone. For some reason, Blip ads are inconsistent, and they don't work 99% of the time. And when ads don't work, videos won't play either. The only way I can get videos to play for the time being is AdBlocker. I can assure you, however that once I get a working computer again, I will be watching the ads once more. I'll also be looking into donating to all the producers I've watched, in order to make up for lost revenue.
This appeal was logical and without being emotionally charged or containing moral condemnation. I will white-list blip and your website for this reason.
I can't believe it's come to the point where he actually needs to explain to people why the ads need to play. How can people be so ignorant to not understand their necessity without Lewis telling them the obvious?
Well, with how great AT4W is, I just hope this video reaches all the viewers.
hello linkara (or do you prefer lewis or Mr lovhaug ?) i just wanted to write to you and tell you that i have just recently discovered your reviews online and have become a fan, and i also just wanted to say that i have found your reviews to be very entertaining and probably most importantly fair but anyway to the point i can quite happily sit through what is at worst sixty seconds of ads if it supports you and the fine work that you do
"Question about the Ads that you get revenue, do you get revenue for click-through ads as well? Meaning if there is an ad playing and there is a link within the ad itself do you get extra if people click to go to that site?"
It used to be that way. I don't know if it's still the case.
Could you get a stick and prod at someone with the notion to get ads working in Australia?
I honestly don't mind them (I even find the Transformers G1-esque ad bumpers adorable) maybe because I have a warped sense of humor to the point that the one ad I DO get (It's an oil ad or... Something. It doesn't make much sense in context.) is a guy riding an engine like a mechanical bull... Said engine complete with a gigantic fan-o-death not a foot from the guy's groin. How he survives getting throw over it is beyond me, but the straight-faced attitude of it just makes me laugh all the more.
Not to mention I've devoured a good lot of AT4W having discovered it about three days ago. (Side note, is there any plan to condense the plot arcs into 'need to know' bites? I'm not quite sure which videos to watch to get a basic rundown.)
"I mean I know this is all hypothetical postulating, but why not just find a sponser and do it that way? Even if it's just a 5 second TV spot it'll still be smarter in the long run for advertisers."
A few reasons: -Advertising changes. According to Film Brain, in the UK the ads they've been seeing on blip vids are ads for Star Trek: Into Darkness. Integrating ads into the videos means the ads go out of date, especially if it's for specific sales, seasonal offers, or other products. -That's not how blip's advertising model works. -How exactly do I go about approaching a business' franchise location and saying, "Hi, I have a series on the internet that makes fun of bad comic books. Give me money and I'll advertise your product."?
Mine is a strange one, though I could see the Ads during the opening of videos but for some reason it doesn't do it for mid-rolls. Which is strange because I do see the ads on youtube videos be it both the ones that pop up or the ones that start before the video. I got nothing against the ads either depending on what gets advertized. They could be cute and funny, like the sour patch kids tollbooth ad I seen many times on this site months ago. Or very annoying such as that "Coke Zero True Story" Ad that literally screams its music at you upon watching. That being said this video did bring a tear to my eye and I am gonna try to see if I could find the problem out for mine.
"There will always be bad comics but whether there will always be enough for a weekly show is another matter. You have to mine for material and whether you're mining for gold, coal or bad comics all mines become unsustainable sooner or later. I don't want to come off as doom and gloom, I'm just concerned about whether you know what to do after AT4W?"
Oh, trust me, I will never run out of bad comics to review on this show. ^_^ The reason this year has been less bad comics has been stuff that I assumed would be bad or because the standards have gone up due to how really awful some stuff is, so comparing them it's like "Yeah, this sucks, but it's not ______."
I realized that some of blips apps weren't showing the ads, so I've restricted myself from using it unless I don't have my laptop on me at school. I normally watch AT4W after my classes, or sometimes in between them, but this is if I can't wait to watch the next one. I myself don't like Ad Blockers because your very reason why we shouldn't. I watch a lot of other people's shows on the internet, and for groups that stream they might not make a lot of money of it but it's still a small amount of money. Blip's ads are normally pretty short, and if their some what longer it's a good time to go grab a drink, or a bite to eat. I hope a lot of people stop using Blockers for your sake Linkara, and anybody else present or future reviewers.
"Honest question - how much would I have to donate using the Donate button in order to equal the revenue you would lose from me using AdBlock on the next 100 episodes? And is this a fair trade from your perspective, or are there other complications?"
Hard to say, unfortunately. The ad revenue differs from day to do and is calculated per-1000 views (and approximated to decimal places for less-than round numbers, of course), so I couldn't really tell you what would be appropriate for that. Plus if you want to watch a video again, is that counted?
Basically I just say if you wish to donate, donate however much you feel is appropriate.
Very elegant concise and to the point. Thank you that actually answers a couple of questions I've had.
I hate to do this to you, but is there any chance you could talk to Lupa about her ads? She doesn't seem very receptive about the topic, and I'm just trying to point out that in her videos her mid role ads cut her off mid sentence sometimes. I shouldn't be required to pre play those ads just to get uninterrupted sentences. Again I hate to bring you into this, but I believe this is a problem she needs to adress. One way or the other thank you for at least hearing me out.
If you want to support the show and have a browser without an AdBlock program, I highly recommend opening it up and queue up a video on blip itself. Blip does an auto-loop if you're on it directly, and what's nice is there are browser add-ons that let you mute all the browser sounds. That way I can AdBlock the videos I want to see without interruption while still running other random ones in the background. The other day I apparently watched half of all AT4W episodes from 2012...
"I hate to do this to you, but is there any chance you could talk to Lupa about her ads? She doesn't seem very receptive about the topic, and I'm just trying to point out that in her videos her mid role ads cut her off mid sentence sometimes. I shouldn't be required to pre play those ads just to get uninterrupted sentences. Again I hate to bring you into this, but I believe this is a problem she needs to adress. One way or the other thank you for at least hearing me out."
She's very well aware of that problem. It's just the ad placement needs to be down to the millisecond, so it can be difficult to get it at the end of a sentence.
It's really her own choice about whether she wishes to place commercial bumpers or not and I don't really have a huge problem with her doing it her way for her show.
I wish I could watch your ads, but even with no blocking software enabled, even on browsers with no adblock at all, Blip insists that I'm blocking them and makes me wait for a minute and a half before videos. I'd happily sit through a 30 second ad but right now I'm being punished for something I haven't done, and it's making watching TGWTG videos very tiresome. Could it be because I live in the UK? Does anyone have any ideas?
I have a technical question. I live in Japan, a region that does not show the mid video ads (Sorry, I promise I watch them whenever I'm in the US). However, we do get ads that play before the video starts. I hope you get paid for that.
My question is this: The ads in Japan come with a "Skip this ad" button that appears after 5 seconds, does count as a viewed ad as far as your income goes? Or should I watch all the way through just to be safe?
Please keep up the great work, I love the show. It is appointment viewing for me. I even hope one day to be try my hand at review video producing myself (It's a lot harder than you make it look!).
"My question is this: The ads in Japan come with a "Skip this ad" button that appears after 5 seconds, does count as a viewed ad as far as your income goes? Or should I watch all the way through just to be safe?"
I honestly couldn't say. Over here in the States, I've never run into a Blip ad with the option to skip, so I don't know if it's counted or not.
And yes, I still get revenue for the pre-roll even if you don't see the mid-roll. ^_^
"And yes, I still get revenue for the pre-roll even if you don't see the mid-roll." That's all I needed to know. Thanks and looking forward to the DVD.
Ok, problem solved. Custom HOSTS file was blocking the ads. Seeing as it has been causing me trouble than convenience over the past year I deleted the damn thing.
I'm doing my part and letting the ads play but two questions.
1. Have you told anyone about the videos being downloaded and possibly uploaded on Youtube? Have you ordered takedowns?
2. I bumped into a forum and it said "Why don't you get a job?". I responded that THIS is your job. Thoughts about the job saying you need to get a real job?
"1. Have you told anyone about the videos being downloaded and possibly uploaded on Youtube? Have you ordered takedowns?"
Originally I recorded a bit about youtube uploads in this as well, but decided to keep it focused on advertisements. One battle at a time. And no, I haven't ordered any takedowns. Whenever TGWTG has tried in the past to stop it, they come back with a new account and everything uploaded again in a week.
"2. I bumped into a forum and it said "Why don't you get a job?". I responded that THIS is your job. Thoughts about the job saying you need to get a real job?"
When someone is paying taxes as part of it, it becomes a real job. As such, yeah, this IS my real job. I invest money in equipment, software, hardware, and props. Or perhaps they'd like to start telling TV directors/producers/writers that THEY should get real jobs, too.
An idea I had, if you really don't want the Donate button is that you could set up an Amazon wishlist full of props for the show that people could buy for you. I'm not sure off the top of my head how to do it, but I know it can be done. (A podcast I listen to had a guest who did this...)
This way people get the excitement of seeing their contribution directly effect the show, so it becomes a win-win
I find the ads to be the perfect time to hone my Solitaire skills. takes just as much time it not less if you get a bad run of cards. Just saying, its an alternative to ad block.
Oh yeah, and I forgot to say this. You should put this video on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses as well. Also, make a Blip version for those who watch AT4W on the Blip site (of course removing the opening message about uploading it on YouTube)
Sometimes the ads on your videos, especially the middle one/s, just seem to randomly not play for me. I hope you're not getting dinged for that.
I just mute and let the ads play. Since this you brought this thing about adblockers up, I've even been letting the end one play through instead of just closing the tab. Hope it helps.
I have less problem with ads in the reviews of content providers who plan for the ad's presence. There's a fad to black, commercial great, fantastic, I'll walk the ten feet to my kitchen, grab a drink, walk back, ad's over, continue the entertainment. (As for the tv versus internet thing: I don't watch tv live, I skip the ads, and I pay for the privilege to do so. It's not an apt comparison for or for millions of digital cable users.)
It's much more annoying when the reviewer is being cut off in mid-sentence every two minutes of a ten minute video. I had to stop watching one of Lupa's Manic Episodes videos yesterday because the same two ads were interrupting her in mid-word over and over.
Curiously, since I put TGWTG on my ad-blocker's "allowed" list, I can't find the log-in button to comment on videos. As far as I can tell, it's actually hidden behind one of the ads plastered all over the site. Weird.
AdBlock is like weed removal. It gets rid of everything you want it to get rid of, plus a whole lot more.
I refuse to use AdBlock simply because I'm afraid that it could think that something is an ad when it really isn't, and it will block it for me. And I'll never know what I missed.
That said, I am EXTREMELY annoyed at the current blip ad, which is just a "Make sure to wear your seatbelt" message. It treats me like I'm five years old.
I very rarely mute ads, but I am muting this one. It's so patronizing.
But you still get paid for it.
There have been some TGWTG videos that I felt were not worth watching the ads for, though admittedly, none that were made by you. But I still watched the ads, because I did technically watch the video. If I think it's a bad video, I just won't watch it again.
But AT4W is awesome! So I'm not gonna be doing that.
I saw the argument in the YouTube comments about whether or not this counts as a "real job". Just to offer up my opinion, it does.
But just a quick thought: Why not make a "The Making of an AT4W episode", the same way that Doug made a "Making of an NC episode" video? That way, the people who don't share my opinion will see how much effort it is for you, and hopefully respect you enough to not be ignorant about whether or not this is a "real job" and then they'll take you a bit more seriously.
Looking forward to your DVD, will there be a trailer to look forward to as well? (hey considerng how good your trailers are for the October Halloween review series, can't hep but be curious)
Start with the average amount of money your ads bring in per month. (If you do not know, average for the year, or hell, assume your best month for the purposes of this calculation.)
Next, multiply this amount by 100 (since about 1% of people who you ask to do something online will actually perform that action.)
What's that amount come to? Five bucks per 100 people? 50 bucks per 100 people? Whatever that amount is, just say it.
Now, just note next to the donate button on the top page that if we block ads, you would like us to please donate (amount) or more.
Alternatively, you could do what Penny Arcade, did and do a Kickstarter for the goal "make Atop the Fourth Wall ad-free for one year."
Or even just put a little donation meter that says how much more you need.
You may have noticed that more and more people are choosing to block all web content and only allow specific content through. This is not something most of us chose to do. We were driven to this by an increasingly malicious and invasive web.
If we know all the IPs and domain names of your advertisers, it is possible we could create exceptions for each rule.
But please note that even then, if (for example) a domain name has a low WOT score, or an IP is on a public blacklist of known phishers and scammers, ordinary web users like us may not be able to justify creating exceptions for those domains and IPs. Even though they may claim to be perfectly legitimate advertisers these days, we can't verify that firsthand.
It is increasingly seen as normal to block all web content except the content that you want to get through. Already unnecessary scripts and cross-site image requests outnumber the actual content 20 to 1 or more on a typical website. All it takes is for one of those to have a malicious user at the other end of it, and a site cannot be trusted. And it was recently revealed that advertisers DO NOT KNOW who their own affiliates further up the chain are. If you are seeing an increase in ad-blockers, it is because this is the only safe and sane way to browse an increasingly hostile web.
Please give us as many alternate ways of paying you as possible. The Donation button is an excellent start. (I understand there are fees slurped out by paypal first before the money actually reaches you, and any donation below a certian threshold would actually cost money to collect, etc. The more we know about how much you need and how much gets lost in the transaction, the easier it is for us to send you what you need.)
Thank you for giving us years of free entertainment. Most of us cannot justify browsing the web unfiltered. If people like us are becoming the rule, not the exception, then you need a new business model. Help us help you discover it.
Anonymous, you are still leaving out two important problems:
-Blip now REQUIRES all videos to have preroll ads on them. You're given five exceptions for videos and that's it. Where exactly am I supposed to host 400+ videos that average around 400 megs per episode if not on Blip? -Assuming this model idea of yours works, what exactly happens in case of an emergency that goes beyond the funding of the ad-free-for-a-year, be it a medical issue or I drop the camera and it goes breaky. The current system allows me to set aside money with each paycheck to build up savings - it's a continuous revenue stream.
"But just a quick thought: Why not make a "The Making of an AT4W episode", the same way that Doug made a "Making of an NC episode" video? That way, the people who don't share my opinion will see how much effort it is for you, and hopefully respect you enough to not be ignorant about whether or not this is a "real job" and then they'll take you a bit more seriously."
First, let me say that I completely understand you and support your call to the audience. What I'm about to say is not about "I don't want to see ads" and isn't meant to raise points for the Ad-Block users. I do watch the ads and I feel bad when they don't show up. However, I want to tell you a bit about Blip's advertisement handling outside of the US and UK, in my case Germany.
When I started watching your videos, and the videos of other reviewers on tgwtg, blip didn't showed German ads. Instead, I got US and UK advertisements. It was a very good time. Now, it's a chance of luck what you get.
You either get a commercial from the US or UK. Those work great and are no problem to watch. They're not annoying (not as much as some German ads...), they are short and the volume is about the level of the video itself.
Then there are occasions where no ad is playing, or only the middle-vid ad is missing.
There are also the cases that you got a German ad directly from blip. These are either skip-able after 5 seconds or pretty normal ads, also no complains here.
You happen to stumble about YouTube Advertisement too. In this case, it's a YouTube vid that's embedded as ad. You have the chance to skip the window after 5 seconds, but if you're unlucky, blip doesn't starts the video afterwards - so your best bet is to start the video. These are up to 11 minutes long. Thankfully, again, you can skip them after 5 seconds. No issues there. If you're lucky, blip doesn't bug afterwards and the video starts.
Then there are the cases where you can choose your ad between several, German advertisements. These are problematic. Because if you're very unlucky, you happen to stumble about an add that goes on forever, is not skip-able, absolutely annoying and... honestly just a bad advertisement because besides dropping the products name 1-2 times, they talk about completely different things no one is interested in... >.< And if you're out of luck, blip doesn't starts the video afterwards. You can however refuse to start one of those ads. After a short while of waiting, blip changes to a standard advertisement, which is usually short, pleasing and bug-free.
Then you have an ad you can skip, but after skipping, another ad plays while the video already starts in the background. The new ad of course, isn't skip-able and outside of control, so... either bear double-audio for a while and then go back to the beginning of the video or hit the pause button - which will pause the video, but not the ad :)
You can find your ways around blip's mechanisms after a while, but to be honest, it's very tricky. At least here in Germany, don't know how it is anywhere else. And I know that these problems can be solved. YouTube handles advertisements pretty good, as all of their ads are either short or skip-able after 5 seconds, have a nice quality (no audio-buzzes or anything like that) and are often enough either very interesting ads, or those you already know from TV. Twitch does the same. I get German ads from them, too, and it's usually short, annoyingly ones. So I really don't know how blip fails to change the problem (because I'm pretty sure that this got reported to them several times).
I still bear with their ads though. It's a price I'm willing to pay in order to support your show and all the other shows I like to watch. Besides, this is really not your fault, so you shouldn't pay for it. I can understand that there are people who aren't willing to keep up with that. And I think for them it's great that there is a Donate Button now :) Also, looking forward to the DVD!
I'd like to comment BLIP about my inability to see the ads, but I can't seem to find a proper contact email. I know it may be because I'm Canada, but one way or another I am going to figure why sometimes I see ads and a lot of times I don't.
Either way, I'm going to purchase that DVD when it comes out and I'll consider one of the T-Shirts as well.
I agree with you and I support your ads. Actually, this is just a slight repeat of what I read a comment or two above. Regarding YouTube; I've found I tend to prefer it at night simply for the fact it has unlimited playlists ( I need something playing to sleep), The problem I have with Blip is that it only plays 5 eps than repeats. If you want a different set, you have to go back into archives and get a different 5. And when so many are (wrongly) getting thousands of hits from YOUR honest work, doesn't seem right. So why NOT get that little bit extra?
I always keep the ads on. I will keep the ads on from now until "However long this train lasts". You are worth it. You put out a great show with very well thought out humor and some really great opinions. Do I agree with every ad? No of course not. Do I want to help people pay their bills however I can? Oh heck yes.
As long as the ads in videos go not go crazy, like an ad every 2 minutes or something, I am more than happy to watch however long they go just to watch you.
I wanna tell about something. I tried to turn off Adblock, to see how it would work. Interesting enough, it still said I blocked the website's ads.
And then it hit me. I use Ghostery, a Firefox add-on that blocks any cookie or utility that tracks user's browsing habits. I turned it off, then tried to play a video. Presto, ads started showing.
I'm sorry Linkara, I can turn my adblock off, but I can't respect a company that doesn't respect my privacy.
I'll donate some money via Paypal, if everything comes along my plans.
Have you considered releasing some of your longer vlogs through iTunes as audio only, as a pay-per-download?
I realize you do very few of these, but for an hour long discussion of a movie - such as your review of the "Evil Dead" remake - an MP3 file is much more convenient than being tied to a desktop or even a smartphone screen.
personally i would white list the blip site, but i have no idea how to work my firfox adblocker. though the reason why i use it is because i am afraid of viruses and malware. got an exceedingly nasty bit of malware a while back, utterly devastating.
however, i am not about to deny some of my favorite entertainers on not only the net, but in general, from funds. so i will be using my normal itnernet explorer to view tgwtg videos for now on. i find firefox the superior browser, but i'll tolerate it if it is the difference between continuing to watch atop the fourth wall and you retiring from making videos so you can actually earn some money.
I'll admit I don't use ad-blocker, mostly because I never had the effort to go hunt down a thing like that. But I'll also admit I kinda get annoyed with ads in the videos. Not because they're there, but I remember waaaaaaay back when I discovered NC there was the one LifeSavers ad that never fully loaded, so it took FOREVER to wait for it to end.
That said though, my irritations weren't enough to go get adblocker, but it did annoy me. Since the ads are actually fully loaded and I don't have to wait for them to buffer, it's not so bad.
Do you have anything to do with a lot of your videos being removed from YouTube? The reason I watch them over here instead of here is because they let me make playlists.
Somebody get Blip on the phone, tell them their video service is lacking.
I agree with everything you said. :) I never block ads. On a happier note: Is the AT4W DVD going to be like the TGETG DVF in that it has old AND new material, or is this going to be a DVD with just all-new kindling?
"Is the AT4W DVD going to be like the TGETG DVF in that it has old AND new material, or is this going to be a DVD with just all-new kindling?"
All new material.
"Do you have anything to do with a lot of your videos being removed from YouTube? The reason I watch them over here instead of here is because they let me make playlists."
This is really a tricky situation. Normally when a company acts heavy-handed it's easy to vilify them and whoever works with them (anything related to the music industry comes to mind). In this case a company is acting heavy-handed but it allows a lot of people to focus entirely on their passion as a job. The idea of the current form of advertisements and if they need to evolve also comes up, but that doesn't change the here and now of course so it isn't really a good time to raise the bigger issue questions.
Still whether or not you think blip's approach is dickish or not (I do though I won't compare it to the vaccination thing like someone did on Youtube) it is hard to not be on the producers' side. A pity not everyone can be SFdebris and somehow juggle a family, what are apparently constant water pipe problems, teaching and producing typically 3 videos a week. Yeah he takes money for the requests he does, but that pretty much just goes into buying the DVDs and what-not.
I think my point to all this was Team Linkara, please support.
I understand where you're coming from on this one. I'm very willing to sit through the ads on AT4W, HOPR, and anything you and the rest of the Channel Awesome folks do, because as you pointed out, yeah, this is your job. And really, I think Blip actually has a very equitable ad policy. Keeping the ads to no more than 30 seconds, more or less, in general, is fair to everybody. I don't feel compelled to use ad blocks or the "skip ad" button, if available, most of the time on those shorter ads, which means that you get the money you've earned for making videos and the ad servers can sell the ads for a better price.
And actually, I like the mid-roll ads, too, because I'm the sort of person who likes to stop whatever I'm watching partway through to get up and walk around my apartment, grab some more coffee, or use the bathroom if need be, and the mid-rolls give me a convenient place to do that.
There is, however, one thing and one thing only that's ever made me consider using ad blocks, and it has more to do with the way the ad services place the ads than anything. In general, I won't mind sitting through a movie trailer to see something like AT4W. I can see that, because I'm going to get a half-hour's worth of entertainment out of that. The one gripe I did have, since I haven't had to deal with it lately, is when those ad services say they want me to watch a two and a half minute theatrical trailer for "Bad Parody Movie 53" before I can see somebody's "Farscape In 30 Seconds" video. The good news is I haven't seen that happen in awhile, which makes me think that a lot of ad vendors have come up with a better way of matching the length of the ads with the length of the videos they come with.
Thanks for explaining the situation with the ads and ad blocks to us. I think I understand a little better now than I did before.
Do you know what Blips rules regarding what counts as an ad view for your credit? I know youtube has a bunch of restrictions in place to keep producers from gaming the system such as you don't get credit if the viewer was linked from a recommended video link. Also in theory couldn't viewers like my self who had once watched your vids with ad block just let blip auto play your videos while at work to make up for it?
In all honesty Linkara the only reason I had my ad blocker on for so long was well because in the old days of most of these video sites the ads were quite malicious and extremely intrusive. I had many security concerns about the ads as a Computer Tech. Now that Blip has matured as a platform and that the ads are not that bad and none contain malware I have since turned the Ad blocker off. In all honesty its well worth it to support your work.
Now as a Guy with an Associates in PC and Network Security let me add the following list:
Does Blip Contain any Malicious Ads? -> NO
Do Blip ads cause popups outside the Flash Video? -> NO
Can Blip Ads allow the possibility of System Hijacking? -> NO
Is there a way to present Bilp forom Accessing info on my system or to disable connection to my MIC or Camera? YES simply right click on the video and select SETTINGS select the first tab entitle PRIVACY and select DENY when finished click CLOSE.
Finally, For best results watch on FIREFOX! CHROME has issues with Ad Block Chrome APP not recognizing Blips Flash Videos as Unblocked.
While I dislike watching ads, I have always understood that they are a necessary evil. If you don't get your revenue, then I don't get to be entertained every Monday. So, despite not liking them, I always let the ads play through. Although both you and Doug have made them more bearable with your neat little commercial break skits, so thank you for that. On a second note, I'm really looking forward to the DVD.
Linkara, I'm a Canadian viewer and ads stopped playing on your videos a month or so ago. I was really disappointed because I enjoy giving people like you my money without actually losing any of my own money in the process. As a university student, I don't have a lot of disposable income for buying merchandise or donations. :(
(I actually think I rack up more views on your videos than most people, since I have difficulty sleeping without some constant source of sound and I usually use your videos for it, so this is probably a quintuple loss since I watch at least one of your videos every day.)
Do you know if there's a way to get around this, with proxies or something?
So, between the TGWTG website, this blog, the Blip website, and the Blip mobile app, is there any difference at all in terms of ad revenue? Or do you even have any way of knowing?
Someone else mentioned that seatbelt ad. I know you don't control the ad content but I still wanted to chip in my two cents. That ad is seriously disturbing in ways I don't think it is aware that it is. I think I'd rather pay a $30 fine than have a mysterious arm reach into my car out of nowhere and into my personal airspace to buckle up my seatbelt.
I'm sorry, I'm the (possibly was) exception, I downloaded ad blocker because blip refused to play videos for me. It would try to load the ad it wouldn't load, and just cancel the video. I would whitelist you, but I basically wrote off putting effort into trying to get ads to play the second they refused to play. The amount of time I've gotten back from how much I watched really added up as well, and I'm to "far gone" so to speak. I'm sorry if I upgrade my computer I won't download adblocks again.
It was more because of your Twitter comments than this video (since I whitelisted Blip before this video was posted, even though it took three or four tries to get the right level of sensitivity), but you were the one who actually got through to me just how directly your revenue streams were tied to the advertisements, rather than a combination of ad views and show views. I feel like I owe Channel Awesome, Spoony, and AVGN an apology now.
I can't do anything about it on my computer at the office when I watch at lunch, but from now on, when I'm watching videos at home, ads ahoy.
I won't deny that I contribute to this problem slightly. I'm just so incredibly busy during the day that the only time I have to watch videos online is during the evenings when I'm in bed.
And I can't exactly bring a computer to bed, so I have to watch them on my iPhone. The iPhone does show the ads at the start and end of the video, but it does not show midroll ads. Any reason why this could be?
(I do try to make up for it by rewatching the video if there is a midroll ad in there, but sometimes I am admittedly tired and lazy.)
I didn't even realise you had adverts on here until I saw the Dragnet review. I always thought you did the "We'll be right back" thing to emulate T.V. shows. I live in New Zealand so Even with adblock disabled I don't see the the ads but let us know when you release that D.V.D. I'd be very interested in buying that. I donated a whole dollar via your paypal donate button a few seconds ago. Don't spend it all at once :p
I've got to say, this whole scenario is rather disheartening. After weeks of Lewis pointing out the incredibly logical reasons he and other CA producers need the audience to let the adverts play, the arguments continue to the point where he feels it necessary to make this video explaining in detail why CA producers need to let the adverts play.
And...some people are STILL arguing.
To those, I can only hope they find the strength of will to remove their heads from the arse, and stop being such self-entitled jackbags. They are the epitome of selfish, and I hope their computers explode like terrible bird gifs. I have rarely been so angry at a comments thread...
here is the thing... I dont have adblock working on blip or any other reviewer site out there however the ads NEVER play to me adblock or not, so I aways get that damn message that makes me wait 90 seconds for it, but what can I do? like I said, while I have adblock I have it disabled on most sites (only mostly using it on sites with dangerous ads or stuff like that) and still not only will the ads not play I am aways treated to that message (hell, I re-check to see if adblock didnt turn itself back on or somethign every time I get that message)
Perfect timing for me, I just installed an adbock last week because I was worried about certain ads being virus's and had forgotten to white list Atop the Fourth Wall. I white list all sites which use ads legitimately to support themselves and have no problem sitting through ads in order to get content that I like. Ad block for me is just a safety measure again malicious sites.
well been from Mexico the ads at the middle of the videos didnt start playing 'till recently (maybe a month ago) but i do let 'em play. thanks for the great videos man, hope this keeps going for a long time (excuse my crappy english btw)
Hey Linkara, Just wondering, would you ever consider selling in-video ads as a means of supporting AT4W? For example, some of the mayor podcast networks such as Frogpants have a sponsorship systems were anyone(fan or company) can pay for a segment or a full episode of a show, and in return they get a quick in show message like "help support my kickstarter" or something.
Either way, the current ad system works well for me. I think it's perfectly fair.
1. I don't use any ad blockers but have seen that message a lot recently. For about three days this past week, I got those instead of the ads consistently.
2. Connection issues sometimes causes the videos to not resume after the midpoint ad. I'd love it if the option existed to what the videos split into two parts (which actually means 4 ad views instead of 3).
Regardless, love your work and am in no way trying to prevent you from earning your primary source of revenue.
I don't think I have an ad blocker. If I do, I don't remember what it's called or when I installed it. Is Canada included in the list of regions in which ads can play? ~_^
Not much that I can say other than that I do on this site. If it's an ad on a preview of a game on YouTube... yeah I'm not sitting through an ad to watch an ad. On places like this, sure. It's not like I actually watch the ads here, I just switch to another tab for thirty seconds time.
So, if I see this right, I only get the anti adblock message if there's something there to be adblocked. So I just don't get any ads. Makes sense, since I'm sitting in mainland Europe.
Still, I don't get why Blip doesn't play many ads outside the US.
Fun fact: According to the data tag on Blip, AT4W is in the ad categories Comedy, Comics, and Men. Does Blip not know about the hordes of fangirls?
Hopefully, this train lasts a good long while. Linkara, your work is better than about 90% of syndicated television. If anything, you should be making a ton more money than you do. And for this quality which, even if I don't always like it, really does make Mondays something exciting, a few ads are a simple price to pay.
For those without ad blockers, maybe think about watching or listening to one of Linkara's videos while you do other stuff, just for that extra little bit of help. I play AT4W while gaming because it's often more engaging than what's on screen. Do what you can to help, because this guy...this guy is showing television how comedy is done.
I wish I had the money to buy a t-shirt, DVD, or especially the Harvey Christmas album, but I just don't I don't use adblocker though, so I still sit through all those. 90 seconds isn't to bad compared to 20-30 minutes. By the way, do you also get money for when ads air on older episodes? I've only been here for a few months, so I've been watching old episodes. I wonder if there's a way you could spam watch them so that you played the advertisements a lot.
i am very sorry Linkara. i didnt know about how you guys actually got the revenue from the site. heck i thought Channel Awesome had some kind of rich guys paying the bills and all that. one of the only reasons i've ever had the adblock was because the ads took like two minutes instead of thirty seconds or they were massively repetitive. in some sites it does the ad every couple of minutes and just waste alot of time. i am very sorry and heck i wish i knew that earlier. i'm very sorry
I don't use ad blocker I just play the video and restart the video before it ends, I watched the punisher 2099 review like 9 times with just watching two to three ads.
I just decided to allow ads on the all the pages in the thatguy domain. Honestly, I didn't really realize until recently that you had ads playing. The commercial bumps helped me see it.
Anyway, I do believe we should allow them since that is how content producers get paid (and I am one myself).
Linkara, I'd also like to know if you'd be interested in checking out my YouTube account. I know you like Power Rangers, and I've been making 3d megazords for the last few years (I even do requests). It's youtube.com/user/trueedge2097
I would really like your patronage, and I think you could enjoy some of my designs (some don't turn out right).
I was somehow unaware you were doing video production full time. I'm actually rather impressed by that, considering how low the per view payout can be (admittedly I'm only tangentially familiar with YouTube's rates, and not Blip's at all).
Let me make one thing clear. The only reason I started using Adblock Plus is because advertising got so bad that it started not being able to play the video at all. That kind of shoddy programming from Blip.tv is unacceptable.
However I have now checked (disabling the adblock) and it seems that this problem has been fixed. Ads are playing again and I can watch the videos.
But it seems Adblock Plus has not added a function to whitelist. It has a filter list but that doesn't make blip.tv the exception, even when it has it on the list. If anything, it actually bypasses the 90 second PSA after an update to the add-on.
I am willing to support you and other members of TGWTG. But in order for that to happen, we need Blip.tv to become better in its advertising. These crashing and freezing problems and not good enough and if it persists, more people will not trust Blip.tv and look to adblockers in order to watch the video.
Advertisers also need to get better in how they make commercials. If you have to mute a commercial or find it unwatchable, the company is doing something wrong. The point of commercials is to sell a product. If nobody cares, what's the point? If it's unbearably unfunny, that doesn't help either.
I will whitelist Blip.tv but I want someone to help me figure out how to do that with Adblock Plus. Youtube I want to keep filtering because the advertising has gotten out of control there. They will plant long commercials on videos as short as 10 seconds and that is disgusting. That needs to be fixed but thankfully, Blip.tv doesn't go past 30 seconds for a 20-40 minute video.
So if anyone can help me with this Adblock Plus whitelisting, I would be most grateful.
When I first started seeing advertisements in videos online, it pissed me off. when I saw that videos had 2 advertisements in each video it pissed me off more. Thinking in my mind how manipulative it seemed just rubbed me the wrong way.
Then I learned what the adds where for, what they did.I now happily deal with the adds knowing that they helped support you linkara and others like you.
and since I havent said it before, thank you Linkara for providing such excellent content. Always something to look forward to on mondays
Personally, I fully grasp the whole ad thing and I do move to support that where possible, but I do think there are plenty of reasons not to do it. Besides just the fact that Blip seems incredibly glitchy with the things and constantly causes videos to stop or restart after an ad(which I'm willing to tolerate, but I could see where someone else wouldn't be), it could just be some people's computers can't handle Blip.
Kind of the case with mine, my computer's ancient so I first got into on your stuff through Youtube. Now though between having another computer in the house and Blip support on my 360 (though it only plays the starting ads), I can at least watch properly and that's what I generally choose to do over Youtube, but I can see why someone would do otherwise, and I don't really think putting up videos pleading for people to stop is really going to accomplish much besides making you look desperate. Not saying that's the case but just the idea of doing it could easily paint a bad image for people.
I'm sorry Linkara but many of Blip's ad are very offensive and honestly I would rather sit through 90 seconds of nothing instead of 30 seconds of something that will be deliberately designed to be awful. If Blip had a system more like Hulu to pick and choose the things the ads are about or at least to have votes for ads that shouldn't be shown again or something to make it know that someone really hates an ad, I would be more willing to turn off my Adblock. Avoiding nasty ads is part of why I stopped watching cable tv in the first place, I'm not going to start doing it online.
I very much would like to apologise for using ad block on my browser while watching the various producers that I've come to enjoy the content of. The videos are always of great quality and honestly if watching 3 ads that are 30 seconds in length nets money for the producer then so much the better. I don't know about others, but on your videos I get an ad at the beginning of the video, one in the middle, and one in the ending of the video. No I'm not complaining at all about this. Please keep the product coming, all your hard work is greatly appreciated
"Why don't you get a real job? Also Blip didn't always have video ads so quit whining. Never going to watch your videos again."
Why don't you get a real argument? I get paid money through the ad revenue generated on videos and I have to pay taxes on that money. Now quit whining about how you'll never watch my videos again, since someone like you obviously isn't necessary around here, anyway.
Okay, gotta be that guy who raises his hand and admits he does use ad-blocker. Though it has been disable for blip as I'm in Australia ans thus out of region for these ads and I do want to support you guys, hell you got me into comics in the first place. Question though, in Aus we don't get the full ad we get a snippet of it and then it cuts off, does that count as a view? I'm a full time student and want to help but can't afford a lot due to living expenses
Okay, I just let the same ad play over & over again 100 times on several of your videos (possibly more than 100) so you could make back some lost revenue.
May Disney Hawaii bleed itself dry.
A nice guy on TGWTG told me how I could enable all blip ads while only blocking the annoying flash banners on the site.
That being said, I always suspected that ads are only shown in the US.
Because I like shows I'm watching (and hell, even if I don't like specific video, I still want to thank author for his time) I have done it all. Whitelisting, disabling adblock. I even tried watching tgwtg shows on other, completely vanilla browser.
But it turns out that in Poland we don't have ads on Blip.
One thing that bugs me - why does it still show me that 90 second message when it clearly should know that it hasn't any ads to show me...
(That said, I may donate via PayPal in the future while waiting for next HOPR episode...)
1) I hope the other CA people have talked to you about this. Maybe you guys can get together during the next anniversary and make a PSA about it.
2) Would you happen to know which is your shortest video with ads? I'm thinking of just playing it on repeat or something to help you get revenue.
3) Related to the above, have you considered having a "ad video". Basically just have a very short video that people can easily play to help bump up your revenue. It gives us an easy way to support you which we should just play alot in the background and we don't need to donate to paypal if you want to avoid it.
4) Good luck to you. For a long time the only reason I bother to go to CA is for your content. Hope you can keep going and doing what you love for a long time.
Sorry, adblock has to stay on, here; my internet's already spotty, and I have terrible luck with it crashing when videos are involved. That, and I just can't be bothered to deal with ads, not with my low stress tolerance. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to make any other transactions for your show, either, so I'll sadly have to be a ghost to you. I like your show, and wish I could support you in any way I can, but right now, that's not possible for me.
Hey Linkara, Sorry to hear that the add blockers are hurting your business so much. I personally have never used them. As I lived in France and now in Germany I did not always got to see the adds, specially the mid rolls. It would be cool I someday blip would solve this. Anyhow, I really enjoy all of your shows and I respect a lot the fact that you decided to make of this your main Job, I guess it takes a lot of courage to take such an unconventional career.
"I'm sorry Linkara but many of Blip's ad are very offensive and honestly I would rather sit through 90 seconds of nothing instead of 30 seconds of something that will be deliberately designed to be awful. If Blip had a system more like Hulu to pick and choose the things the ads are about or at least to have votes for ads that shouldn't be shown again or something to make it know that someone really hates an ad, I would be more willing to turn off my Adblock. Avoiding nasty ads is part of why I stopped watching cable tv in the first place, I'm not going to start doing it online."
Valid reason. If it wasn't for the fact you can just turn down sound and click on another page.
Linkara, I watch your videos all the time so you can get the add revenue and all that whenever I can.
But I also use Real Downloader to download your videos so I can have a hard copy of them on my hard drive (FYI as of now, counting your extra vids, riff, let's plays, Longbox of the damned, and crossovers, it's up to 88.2 Gig!)
Is that a bad thing? I mean I clearly do have to watch the vids to download them anyway, this is just so I can have a hard copy in general.
I've used adblock since it was first available as a firefox extension, and ill continue to use it as long as possible
I've known for a long time that blocking the ads blocks your revenue from those ads, and that those ads are the main source of revenue
But I've always blocked your ads since the beginning so I've never contributed to your revenue and you are still successful without it I dont see any reason to change that
You should consider yourself lucky and stop taking what you have for granted, I'm currently unemployed (and not on unemployment) and will need to get some soul-crushing job to support myself soon
You might not be making as much money as you could be because of people like me, but at least you get to make a living by doing what you love and having fun while doing it
I've never understood people like Mr. "Why don't you get a real job?" What constitutes a 'real' job? 9-5 drudgery and toil? Getting a physical paycheck?
What, you think he gets paid in Monopoly money?
Anon, here's how it works.
1. Linkara creates the videos and posts them for our amusement. That means writing, shooting, and editing-a process that, while I'm sure he's streamlined after five years, can most likely be time consuming.
2. He gets revenue from the ads. Yeah, some of them are dumb, but name an ad on TV that's not.
3. Every year, the IRS takes some of that money, meaning he most likely has both a 1040 and a W-2. Just like if he was working at a "real" job.
So, therefore, he's doing something he loves to do and getting paid for it. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.
And really, 1:30 of ads for an average 20 minute show is peanuts compared to TV.
Linkara, you've got my support, and if I wasn't flat broke(and had my own Paypal) I'd donate to you.
"Okay, gotta be that guy who raises his hand and admits he does use ad-blocker. Though it has been disable for blip as I'm in Australia ans thus out of region for these ads and I do want to support you guys, hell you got me into comics in the first place. Question though, in Aus we don't get the full ad we get a snippet of it and then it cuts off, does that count as a view? I'm a full time student and want to help but can't afford a lot due to living expenses"
Sorry to say I don't know. But the fact that you're trying to let the ad play is appreciated, regardless. ^_^
"Is that a bad thing? I mean I clearly do have to watch the vids to download them anyway, this is just so I can have a hard copy in general."
Well, the only problem is then I don't get residuals from you watching old episodes, buuut on the other hand, if it was legal to sell my episodes on DVD, that'd be the case, too, so I'm not going to complain.
Besides, I've got downloaded copies of AVGN episodes, so I'd kind of be a hypocrite if I did complain. XD
"3. Every year, the IRS takes some of that money, meaning he most likely has both a 1040 and a W-2. Just like if he was working at a "real" job."
Oh, it's even more fun thatn that.
I don't have a W-2, since Blip doesn't withhold any of the earnings for tax purposes. And because technically I'm an independent contractor, that means I have to pay QUARTERLY taxes based on my estimated income. It's fine if it's too high or too low, it's just it affects what happens in April when I file. Now the good news is that if I don't pay the quarterly EVERY time, it's not a big deal, since the penalty tends to be pretty low ($60 to $100 in the past), but I DO need to pay some of them, or else the amount I end up actually owing in April is far too much.
"I don't have a W-2, since Blip doesn't withhold any of the earnings for tax purposes. And because technically I'm an independent contractor, that means I have to pay QUARTERLY taxes based on my estimated income. It's fine if it's too high or too low, it's just it affects what happens in April when I file. Now the good news is that if I don't pay the quarterly EVERY time, it's not a big deal, since the penalty tends to be pretty low ($60 to $100 in the past), but I DO need to pay some of them, or else the amount I end up actually owing in April is far too much."
Ahh, gotcha. Boy, they get ya at every turn, don't they?
I have to say i understand your reasons Linkara and after seeing your video i have "white listed" your site and will let the adds run from now on. I just want so say one thing though: the 30 seconds are ok but if you have any contact to the people making these adds tell them that more would be really annoying. I live in a small village in germany and our internet connection here isnt the best (downloading things with 200 kb/s at best) and on other sites i have the problem that the add is too long and keeps buffering which is really annoying. I really have to say i like your show a lot and i am grateful to you since without your "history of power rangers" i would have never heard of the sentai gokaiger which is one of my favorite series i have ever watched. I appreciate that you talk to your fans and tell us about the adds and how your financial life depends on us letting them play. Just if possible don´t make them longer than they are now. Oh and one question: Will it be possibl somehow to buy your dvd and one of the t-shirts and ship them together? Cause import to germany especially to where i live is a pain -.-
PS: If i made any mistakes im sorry my english isn´t the best XD
"I appreciate that you talk to your fans and tell us about the adds and how your financial life depends on us letting them play. Just if possible don´t make them longer than they are now. Oh and one question: Will it be possibl somehow to buy your dvd and one of the t-shirts and ship them together? Cause import to germany especially to where i live is a pain -.-"
Unfortunately the DVDs and the shirts will be handled by two different companies, but I'm going to look into a downloadable option for the DVD for international shipping issues.
Do you actually lose possible revenue from blocked ads or do you just not gain any? If it's the later I have no problem replaying videos with ad block off. The only reason I use ad block (for this site at least) is that I like to watch NEW videos uninterrupted, but after I've seen them once I don't mind interruptions during rewatches. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to put up with the ads.
Love the show. It actually got me back into comics by pointing out that even though there are atrocious stories out there, there are some really good ones that are worth the time. Because of that I spent the better part of the morning today trying to whitelist blip so the ads will play on my computer. That did not work out and I keep getting that annoying 90 second message. Guess that means I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out :P
"Unfortunately the DVDs and the shirts will be handled by two different companies, but I'm going to look into a downloadable option for the DVD for international shipping issues."
Would take me forever to download it but it would be waaaaaay better than paying almost half the price for shipping alone (meaning taxes for import we have to pay). I really would love it if it is possible ^^
From the information I have, you get a minimum of $2,000 per video ( first 30 days ) from ads. If you wish to make more money, you can do the "old fashion" product placements ... "This episode is brought to you by Company X, who makes Product X - Product X, use it today ! " That being said, you can also increase your income by having your own web site. Quite a bit of money can be had from secondary advertising from the site, and it's not that hard to set one up. If you need an idea of an easy setup, look at Noah Antwiler's site.
About selling "things". Branding can be very big business, however if you wish to do this, you have to market your stuff to the general public, not just your fans. Creating a custom PayPal store ( easy to do ) with your own logos and art would be the best way to go. ( Paying commissions for fan art would boost your selection of stuff ).
Sadly this train will be coming to and end sooner or later. From the information I have, the traffic to TGWTG has been falling quite a bit in the last year - I just hope you can establish yourself as an independent producer, in case something happens.
Keep doing what you love, and never give up hope !
When I sit through a 4 minute ad (no joke) to watch a 10 minute video (Phelous to use an example) then have to deal with ad boxes poppuing up every 10-20 seconds..
There's a limit, and Blip has crossed it for sure..
The pre-roll and maybe an ad in the middle, sure, but not when it's NON STOP which Blip is doing..
I tried disabling adblock, but I was still seeing the 90 seconds message. Then I realized it was probably because I'm in Belgium and there won't be localized ads for there on blip for years.
I'll buy a shirt and the Harvey Finevoice album then.
I always let the advertisements play when i watch videos online. mainly because ad blockers are too much of a hassle to bother with. i never really thought about that being the way you gain money until this subject came up. and it actually made me glad that this came up. since i now know i am supporting you making great videos for bits of my time in advertisement. so yeah, keep making Great Videos and i will be buying your DVD. Question, Will the AT4W DVD be in limited supply? and will there be DVD Copies with your Autograph on them? (i Like Buying those) and lastly, Keep Being Awesome
I am leaving you a comment here, Lewis, as I know that you read every single comment you get on here, to let you know that I appreciate all of the hard work you have put into the videos over the years. I know this line of work can be pretty thankless and not nearly as glamorous as some people think it might be from the outside looking in, so just wanted to give you that.
I will say to those who use adblock pro on firefox, updating the filter lists in the applications menu while simultaneously allowing non-intrusive advertising should allow the ads on blip to run. Barring that, you can always whitelist on that application as well.
Thank you again for your time and effort Lewis, and thank you for the donation button. I've sent some dinero your way (not that you're asking for it, but hey you've earned it for making me laugh so many times over the years) and wish you all the best for as long as this gravy train keeps chugging along.
I hope there's be an international shipping option as well as a download, as I'm one of these old-fashioned people who like having the actual physical thing if possible :)
For the record, my pre-ordered To Boldly Flee DVD arrived here in New Zealand in good time (less than a month after the USA), so not all orders got messed up.
Thanks for bringing the advertising issue to the fore, both because of people who didn't realise the effect of adblockers, and to challenge those who did but still use it. I know this is created some heated debate, but I think its a discussion that needed to happen.
Lewis, just want to leave a warning here regarding the donation button: Whatever you get from it will most likely be a one-time major influx that will quickly degrade into pocket change. Wait a few months running it before incorporating it into any budgeting :)
"Lewis, just want to leave a warning here regarding the donation button: Whatever you get from it will most likely be a one-time major influx that will quickly degrade into pocket change. Wait a few months running it before incorporating it into any budgeting :)"
Don't intend to incorporate it into any budgeting. ^_^ As I said, the button is there because people have been asking for it. XD
"Do you actually lose possible revenue from blocked ads or do you just not gain any? If it's the later I have no problem replaying videos with ad block off. The only reason I use ad block (for this site at least) is that I like to watch NEW videos uninterrupted, but after I've seen them once I don't mind interruptions during rewatches. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to put up with the ads."
Basically any time an ad is shown I get revenue from it - it's why I'm not enthusiastic about putting the backlog up on youtube, either - residuals from past episodes.
"Because of that I spent the better part of the morning today trying to whitelist blip so the ads will play on my computer. That did not work out and I keep getting that annoying 90 second message. Guess that means I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out :P"
Well, at least you tried and I appreciate that, anyway. ^_^
"I would buy some of what you are selling, but I don't want put a credit card number in the internet to buy something"
Well, the good news then is that there will be a paypal option for the DVD or if you attend a convention I'm at, you should be able to buy something there. ^_^
"Question, Will the AT4W DVD be in limited supply? and will there be DVD Copies with your Autograph on them? (i Like Buying those) and lastly, Keep Being Awesome"
The DVD will be published-on-demand, so while supply will be infinite, there won't be an autograph option unless you bring it to me in person or buy it from me at a convention.
I actually did a presentation on the pros of advertising for one of my public speaking classes in college.
ReplyDeleteThat's not why I'm commenting though, it was just apropo. Anyway, there's a several year old but valid old G4 video I like to point people too. Really only the first part is relevant to this, but in it Morgan Webb explains quite succinctly the value of advertising. That's why I only used AdBlock on UStream that one night when Nash had to be there exclusively because of DMCA, and as he pointed he didn't get any money from those ads.
The link to the video ishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zB-gGWxWc if you or anyone reading this wants to check it out, but the line that I think puts it best (which I chose to open my speech on why I like advertising) is "I would learn about hemorrhoid cream than have to fork over $20 every time I wanna watch CSI."
hey linkara,
ReplyDeleteI tend to have a sucky internet speed and yet I still watch your ads, yes sometimes your product is not up to par for me but I feel that thirty seconds(or a minute as the ads seem to freeze on me because of my connection) is warranted so that you can continue your craft. I will more than likely be buying one of your shirts in the coming weeks
on
I... I didn't know. OH DEAR LORD, I'M SORRY; I DIDN'T KNOW!!!!! I thought page counts were the main source of ad revenue data. Honestly, thanks for bringing this to my attention.
ReplyDeleteI have since fixed my ad-blocking on all the web comics and shows that I regularly read and support.
How in the HELL do you make enough money doing videos to support an apartment?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLY?! There can't be THAT much money in doing what you do, can there?! Good gravy Linkara, you're amazingly lucky. This whole time I was thinking you work at a bookstore...
ReplyDeleteand I let the ads play, I just usually get up and get a glass of water or some chips. I don't have to watch'em lol. But WOW, seriously my mind is blown. Atop The Fourth Wall IS your job...WOW! Just...wow...
DvD should come out soonish then? Duuude, that's sewing machine!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I did see advertisements in the last AVGN video. I'm not sure that ads not showing here is a technical issue on my side or just that it's a different company. I'll try to look at blip too though, I don't watch any videos straight from there.
I've been having some issues with the ads that run on blip. The ad would play but would never go back to the actual video itself, kind of leaving me in limbo. Other times the ad would play with your video playing in the background. It's pretty annoying because I want to watch the ads so you'll get your piece of the pie, but I'll end up turn it on in order to watch your stuff.
ReplyDelete"How in the HELL do you make enough money doing videos to support an apartment?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLY?! There can't be THAT much money in doing what you do, can there?! Good gravy Linkara, you're amazingly lucky. This whole time I was thinking you work at a bookstore..."
ReplyDeleteWhen I started, I was working at Barnes and Noble. While I'm actually someone who enjoys retail work, I was making more money doing AT4W and it was more worth my time to devote all of my energy to it, especially when I was beginning to do storyline stuff.
I had adblocker once...it was awefull...
ReplyDeletejokes aside. I really had adblocker for a long time, mostly because I thought that videomakers get paid by Views not by Adviews. Stupid I know, as soon someone mentioned it, I turned it off. The ads take maybe 30 seconds and they help to keep my favorite shows alive, I can live with that.
What I think that should exist is a Ad volume controller App. that tones down the volume when an Ad is playing, it is ridiculous how loud some ads are in comparison to the actual video and I think most people have headsets on. My head nearly exploded so many times due to this...
Alright, I'm going to tell you why I block ads.
ReplyDeleteAs you said they are repetitive, I'm sometimes cool with that. However that gets into the main reason I block ads...
We don't live in an equal society. Everyday I'm bombarded with billboards, print ads, those little plastic signs on the side of the road, TV ads, radio ads all telling me I am a worthless human being and someone else's property as well as telling me other people because of certain things are worthless. You can probably get what I getting at...
Ads for diet products, misogynistic ads for deoderant/cars/website hosting, etc. Enough is enough and when I can turn that crap off, I do.
If I could chose what ads I want to see that'd be great, but that's not how Blip currently works. It doesn't give me a choice as thus I gotta protect myself and my mental health and turn it all off. You might argue that one more ad wouldn't hurt, but it does, because this is something I finally have control over. I can finally say "You know what ad people, I'm not going to listen!"
I am, however, glad there is a donate button, as it does allow for us that have reasons to block all the ads (other people might get triggered by certain ads, tired of the garbage, don't have any regional ads, etc.) a way to directly support the show and give back without the guilt trip of basically being told by people that "You are a worthless human being for doing such a terrible thing!" (Yes I've seen that.)
"When I started, I was working at Barnes and Noble. While I'm actually someone who enjoys retail work, I was making more money doing AT4W and it was more worth my time to devote all of my energy to it, especially when I was beginning to do storyline stuff."
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you're insane, genius or just really lucky...
Blip uses Google to provide ads, and Google allows syndication, which means that they can sell that ad space to companies that can sell ad space to companies that can sell ad space to companies that don't care if the ads people take out contain viruses and malware.
ReplyDeleteSorry, as long as Blip uses Google and Google allows fourth/fifth/sixth/whatever-party content, I'll have to block the ads until there's no way I can get a virus from them.
I guess I could always not watch your videos...
It's rather sad that you had to make this PSA because people wouldn't get why using adblock was harmful to you, and everybody at Channel Awesome. Hopefully you'll get more money now.
ReplyDeleteI tried to white-list this blog and TGWTG, but for some reason I cannot get that to work. Oh well, I'll just continue to pause Adblock every time I watch videos.
Also I dunno if it's just me, but the video seemed really choppy. It got better closer to the end, but I couldn't help but notice.
I was someone who hated the ads. I don't like watching them. It is sometimes annoying when some casters put two in middle of videos. I do watch the ads really when I learn how much supports the producers on blip and casters on twitch. What you guys do is awesome and I wish I could do it myself. I have been inspired by a bunch of you guys. Why I would never use ad blocker other then watching nash on ustream. As a matter of fact I feel dirty even having it.
ReplyDeleteI think this was really classy and neat of you to put up this vid explaining things more.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone reading the comments and is still confused about 'White listing' most ad blockers have a 'help' section to tell you how or you can google it.
For those that have issues with the banner ads stalling the video, usually you can pause and wait for the ad to pass then resume. Yes, it can be annoying that way but it is a work around for slower connections. (and I'm referring to the ads that show up on the blip videos, I know your blog is ad free otherwise.)
There IS also ways to block specific site ads without blocking blip, (if the ads on say TGWTGs are causing a problem) it's just a little trickier but usually when an ad is blocked you can open the list of what has been blocked and chose what to white list.
I get frustrated when I see the 90 second blip thing because it's almost always on the computer where there is NO ad blocker installed. I know I need to get in touch with Blip about their issues more directly, that isn't your fault.
Though I would like to know how wide spread it is and if others are having the problem perhaps if we're all telling Blip what's going on they can fix it.
I've never minded sitting through ads for internet programming. I DO have ad blocker on my laptop but your blog, Channel Awesome, Blip, Blistered Thumbs, etc. are white listed.
I don't have cable or satellite anymore (too expensive) so I'll gladly sit through the ads on the internet programming because hell, then I'm more directly supporting the shows I watch vs. most of the stuff on some cable channels. (Hell, watching Sanctuary on Syfy and sitting through the ads didn't save it so yeah, more direct is better).
Forgive if I'm being slow but is Harvey's Christmas Album still available?
Y'know, I really wish all the individual producers did this, even before the forced 90 second thing. I felt like and continue to feel like this is the right way to go with getting people to stop using adblockers. When you do what Blip has done with forcing people to choose only between waiting three times the length of an ad or white-listing, it creates an unnecessary air of hostility in all directions, between viewers, producers, and Blip. Disgruntled viewers hatefully spite producers for Blip's methods, insulted producers dismissing said spiteful viewers' complaints... I feel like it all could've been avoided had producers just, well, done what this video's doing.
ReplyDeleteWhen a big, faceless company does something like strong-arming the audience into doing something, it causes a feeling of resentment from being forced to do something they may not want to do or don't understand (and even if they do understand, they may still be resentful just from the lack of choice itself). However, with something like this explaining the need for ads and requesting that the audience let them play, it's a personal request from an individual producer the audience is a fan of. It's a plea that can be identified with and given a face, and when presented as a choice, there's less chance of stirred-up spite and more chance of people agreeing to help out.
Of course I understand why Blip as a whole decided to do things like this, attempting to lasso every single ad-blocker user in and have the most potential chance of reaching them and thus regaining as much lost potential revenue as possible. If this course of action absolutely had to be followed, I do wish that, instead, individual producers had the option of turning on or off the 90 second message, maybe even customizing it to be less sterile and more personal, so again it's a choice between producer and viewer, but... I guess I don't really know for certain what would or will end up being best, that's just how I feel.
Regardless, concerning your videos, I'll admit I'd been using ad-blocker on them for the 3+ years I've been watching them, simply because I had ad-blocker on for everything. When you tweeted recently about being concerned about ads not being visible for some and requested people go archive-digging to make up for it, and as I was going through all your videos again anyway, I white-listed the site and watched all the ads.
I have since white-listed blip.tv in general just to avoid the 90 second thing, but even if that weren't there, I'd still keep your site white-listed. You came out, informed your audience of this plight that many weren't even aware of, and politely asked them to do this thing as a small favor to you, to help you personally. And in the wake of the tense air that arose from this change in policy, I'm glad that I was able to choose to help someone whose creative endeavours I enjoy, rather than being told to.
"Forgive if I'm being slow but is Harvey's Christmas Album still available?"
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed. ^_^
I use adblocker, but I always disable it for review sites like this. I also try to visit reviewers main website as opposed to groups they belong to.
ReplyDeleteI hope more people realize that this is your way of earning revenue and that you continue to be successful as a reviewer.
Oh wow, thanks for putting out this video. I'll set the filter right away.
ReplyDeleteAlso, looking forward to that DVD! Can't wait to buy it.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI might have a bit of a weird situation, then. I clearly don't have AdBlock, since sometimes the ads do play (and I do let them play out). Other times, the tracker goes over the ad marker and the video resumes right after a short fade to black. Sometimes there aren't any markers on the video tracking bar. Could this be a technical issue?
Yesterday was my first encounter with the blip notification. I still haven't installed AdBlock or anything of the sort. I thought it might be the browser setting, but after checking, the only thing I didn't allow was pop-ups. It's still the same after I tried watching with a different browser.
Believe me, I'm more than happy to let the ads play, especially if it means supporting the producer. I don't know if this is an issue regarding region or maybe the ads just play sporadically for me or Southeast Asia, for that matter.
I hope things will start looking up soon. What you and the other producers do are amazing.
Here's the problem I'm having. I use program that updates my HOSTS file to block potentially nasty sites. Ads and ad streams are also part of that list, and since I'm not the one writing the list I have no control over what goes into it.
ReplyDeleteI have the ability to whitelist, and indeed I had already disabled the ad blocking for Hulu and Springboard ages ago. Blip is proving to be a problem, though.
With Hulu and Springboard, all I had to do was whitelist their domains and that was the end of it. I tried that with Blip and it keeps saying I'm blocking them. This means that they're using a third-party domain for their ads, and since I don't know which one it is I can't whitelist it.
If anyone here knows which url or urls blip draws its ads from, I would appreciate it.
YAY! NO more guilt! No idea why I'm not getting advertisements maybe it's cause I'm in Canada but I used to get them then I didn't then I did now I don't As soon as paypal is set up I can alleviate the guilt I feel over not supporting your show.
ReplyDeleteYAYNESS!
Hey Linkara, just to let you know I've never used adblocker for anything except popup ads, seeing as I view way too much online media.
ReplyDeleteHope people realize you guys work hard and this is your source of income.
Just a heads up, I clicked the T-shirt link and I got this message:
This account has been terminated due to repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines and/or claims of copyright infringement.
Keep up the comics, buddy.
I don't mind the 30 second ad's and I don't use ad blocker. Lately the only ones that annoy me are the small pop up banner like ads during the videos. They seem to pop up all the time during the videos even after clicking the close button on them. That get's distracting and annoying. But that might be something Blip is doing.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to hear this is something that is able to sustain you.
I admit, I watched like 10 episodes over the past day or so with an ad-blocker...now that its fixed would watching them again or at least letting the ad run make up for the lost views and/or refreshing to trigger more ads being viewed fix it? Just a curiosity
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen much ads lately on your vids, it was interesting that you mentioned the UK in addition to the US... I would think Canada would be an easy revenue stream for blip because a lot of advertising geared to the US still work for Canada.
ReplyDeleteThat said there have been occasions in the past (not lately) where blip has stuck me with ads in excess of five minutes, or even ten. In those cases I've skipped the ad and tried to reload the video later to get a better ad and still count as a "watched" for that video. (Though I tend to watch episodes multiple times regardless.)
Anyway as someone who has been trying to get into the biz, even though I have yet to produce the first episode of my show I know how long it takes to edit and put this stuff together. So I'm glad to watch any ads they see fit to show me up here in the great North, but I definitely understand the concerns of Maverynthia and others... so I'm glad the donate button is there too.
Can't wait for the DVD that'll be a real treat.
"Sorry, as long as Blip uses Google and Google allows fourth/fifth/sixth/whatever-party content, I'll have to block the ads until there's no way I can get a virus from them."
ReplyDeleteThere already is no way to get a virus from them. It is completely impossible to get a virus from a video advertisement without clicking on the link.
Why was this video edited to be viewed like someone having a seizure? Anyway, I don't use any adblock software at all, advertisements simply don't bother me that much. I don't see how sitting through a movie trailer or 30 seconds of a product you're never going to use is THAT much of a bother. I know DVRs are all of the rage these days but maybe growing up in a time where you we're used to 4-minute long interruptions in a show every 10 minutes carried a use? Anyway, Link, you've my support on in the in-video ads and likely in product purchasing and even the "Donate" button.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteSince this is the first time I approach, may I first say that I have watched and enjoyed your videos for some time and that you are a charmer? Excellent energy, all that.
Anyway.
I understand that people get prickly about these things, entitlement and attention issues abounds. It's still a good idea I think to bring attention to the problem(s) like this, some people just don't know. I'm sorry you're catching undue flack for it - it's really unseemly.
I have used adblock+ since basically its inception for all those necessary self-protection reasons, and I have always whitelisted tiny sites that need and deserve my support. (Blip and associated sites included - if you think having someone put together a little graph on how to whitelist things in ABP that could be arranged?) It's just the proper thing to do. However! I am from the frozen north where Blip apparently see no reason to push ads any more (they used to try and sell me cars, but that was years ago). This makes me feel awkward! I wish to be helpful, and even though I am sure you've considered this in great detail I still have to ask:
Is there some specific reason that keeps you from uploading a mirror archive of your things on youtube? Perhaps older things for starters? I realise yt is no doubt subpar and I expect they generate significantly less $/view, but. They have (mechanically - as in the things will generally play, and they cover more regions) more friendly ads and as some jerks seem fond of upload your things there anyway it would funnel the attention to the deserving party: you. I don't know, but I doubt a yt archive would detract much attention from your Blip things, aide from how it would be much easier to navigate - at least in theory.
Thank you very much for your tireless work! Chin up, and all that.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI always watch your ads because 30 seconds of my time is nothing. I actually get pretty frustrated that the mid ads tend to get region blocked for me, except on random occasions which I still haven't worked out the pattern to.
I recently got an ad-blocker but I unblock ads on sites such as this blog and tgwtg.com because I know it supports you guys doing things I love to watch.
And even your one minute of ads is still way less ads than TV.
Question about the Ads that you get revenue, do you get revenue for click-through ads as well? Meaning if there is an ad playing and there is a link within the ad itself do you get extra if people click to go to that site?
ReplyDeleteSee I use adblocker for two reasons:
ReplyDeleteFirstly my internet connection is so bad that a 30 second ad stutters and stalls and takes about 90 seconds to play in the first place, so 90 seconds of automatic silence is preferabbly anyway.
Secondly because of my crap internet connection the video keeps crashing and I have to reload it for whatever reason. I once had to reload the video just to watch the last 2 minutes of the stinger.
I tried the ethical route of not using ad-blocker but it became such a chore to sit through ads six times to just watch one video that I ended up turning ad-blocker on after the first time just so I could watch it.
Also here's my question: At what point is 30 seconds too much? I mean yeah in a 30 minute video a 30 second ad is 1/60th of it. But if the video is, say, 3 minutes long and it has a 30 second ad, I'd be wasting 1/6th of that time watching ads. I know a lot of people would keep pushing the boundary and say 'yes but 1/60th is bad enough anyway' etc etc, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this. At what point does it become acceptable to not watch a 30 second ad cos the video itself is too short in comparison?
To start with, let me say that I've whitelisted you and have endured the ads for some time now.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I feel adblockers are a good thing. Before their advent and commonplace usage, ads were getting more invasive and obnoxious. Now they're getting more unintrusive in hopes that you'll leave them unblocked.
Advertising as it currently exists is insulting. Almost every word in them is a lie, and they use the basest of techniques to mislead you into giving money.
Over time, there's been this conflict between customers and advertisers. Advertising gets more intrusive and more personal, customers find better ways to circumvent them. Now, with adblocker, advertisers can't reach customers at all, so they strike back the only way they can, through producers of content. They make Linkara and others like him take the hit for problems that resulted from THEIR practices.
This is in sharp contrast with the work Linkara himself does, which is "provide a product, let it sell itself."
Linkara, I sincerely hope that at some point soon, you find that you make SO much money with the donation system and with your merchandise that you can afford to completely disable the ads on your videos. At that point, you will be providing a product, and your customers will be giving you money for it. Capitalism without the middleman.
The ads annoy and offend customers (not all, but I'm not alone), and do nothing to benefit creators. That's why they have to PAY creators to let them show up. I get that getting the word out about a product is important, but how many ads have YOU seen lately that are for products you'd never heard of?
TL;DR: We block ads because ADS SUCK. They can't reach us, so they're hurting creators. I want Linkara et al to be able to pay bills, so I whitelist. But I hate it and it must die.
Also very stupid question with very obvious answer that isn't something that can be affected by you personally but: Why do you intergrate ads into the video itself? Rather than have the ad be a seperate entity, tack it onto the first 30 seconds of the video and make it the first 30 seconds. That way you'll get paid since it'd be harder to bypass, meanwhile the ad gets seen by more because no one is gonna be able to put adblock on something that's on the actual video.
ReplyDeleteI mean I know this is all hypothetical postulating, but why not just find a sponser and do it that way? Even if it's just a 5 second TV spot it'll still be smarter in the long run for advertisers.
I live in a region, where there is no longer advertising. :(
ReplyDeleteI hope that it comes back, since I really want to support the show.
And when/if the ads comes back; AT4W marathon! ;)
I haven't Adblock when I look AT4W,but I have the 90 second message AND the advertisement (at the beginning and in the midddle of the video) so... It's a bit long ^^" but I still leave it and click on the ad when it comes.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you went about requesting this. Recently, another producer basically insulted a fan for complaining that 2 midrolls was excessive for a 15 minute video and I agree with the fan. I like the way you do ads with one midroll in a video. I have actually stopped watching this other producers videos because of their treatment of the whole thing. I turned off adblock about a week ago when I found out it affected revenue and I wish you the best.
ReplyDeleteYay, DVD coming soon! Been looking forward to that for a while.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've never had ad block and have recently started an archive-binge on Blip. Sometimes the ads just don't play, and I'm sorry for that, but I've still heard all those ads enough to be able to recite them word-for-word. Good luck!
If you have control over what ads to display, then I thank you. The ads that are displayed are very family friendly. They're usually just ads for cell phones or Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteI've sometimes wondered though what your conversations are like when someone asks "So what do you do for a living?"
I've always just mute the adds and maybe looked at something else for the next 30 seconds. I'm with you Lewis, it's no big deal.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say it's because I'm noble and was always thinking about your wellbeing but mostly it's because it's the easiest way of dealing with the ads.
Do you ever wonder what you'd do if you ran out of bad comics to review? I know how DC and Marvel act that sounds impossible but over the past year and a half of the show the number of bad/awful comics shown here has been going down and the number of mediocre/good comics going up. There will always be bad comics but whether there will always be enough for a weekly show is another matter. You have to mine for material and whether you're mining for gold, coal or bad comics all mines become unsustainable sooner or later.
I don't want to come off as doom and gloom, I'm just concerned about whether you know what to do after AT4W?
i have no idea how t remove the ad block.
ReplyDeleteYou mean I have to waste 30 precious seconds looking at ads? Sorry, my time is much too valuable.
ReplyDeleteI kid, I kid. Yeah, the ads are repetitive, but they're over with pretty quick, and it's a small price to pay(so to speak) for a pretty entertaining show-even for someone like me, who restricts herself mainly to fantasy/horror comics.
Besides, the ads I see don't affect me anyway-I don't eat at Denny's, I don't play video games, and the last time I was at Disney World was in 1999 for my Grad Nite. Though I must admit-walking around the Magic Kingdom at 2 30 in the morning isn't something I'll ever forget.
Quick off-topic question: Any plans to do more 'Tales from the Crypt' comics on the Longbox? I ask because they were the first comics I ever read.
I am kind of frustrated with the whole ad thing. To make matters even worse, I had a bad experience with the Awesome Store so even if I order the DVD, I am unsure if I will even get it. I'll think about donating directly.
ReplyDeleteHey I wonder... What if people used a proxy to view the videos? If it's a regional thing, shouldn't it be possible to bypass that? Then again it's a bit of a hassle but maybe it could work.
I do not use an adblocker at all, and I still got the "wait 90 seconds screen" today. I'm not sure why... and it's kind of ironic considering I've been marathoning videos to try and get your add revenue up by letting the ads play. (No, not blaming you - just a fan of irony.)
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the ads that pop up sometimes as the video is playing - not video ads, but the little ones that come up at the bottom of the video screen. Do those affect your revenue as well? (I don't close them since they're silent and don't really bother me, but just curious.)
At any rate, appreciate the Youtube message explaining the situation.
Some blip ads aren't even 30 seconds. Some are as short as 10. Usually not the mid-rolls, but yeah. Seriously, guys.
ReplyDeleteNow I feel a bit guilty although I do leave the ad's running (muted of course) but I feel guilty that I can't watch every episode (I tend to get backed up on your video's since I watch your blog with all the other blogs)
ReplyDeleteIt's more due time then any thing but I'll try and watch as many of your videos as I can (with the ads only muted) I've accepted that Ads are apart of the media and the ads on blip are mearly annoying but not as bad as TV so I don't want to do anything about them
just thought i would leave a comment too. having only watched AT4W for a couple months i have come to enjoy the show. this enjoyment has led me to white list the blog to support the show. keep on trucking Linkara!
ReplyDeleteYa know, I truly wish I could leave my AdBlocker off but it's just not feasibly realistic. I've had it happen numerous times where a video that is supposed to start runs the ad and then fails to load. It's annoying as hell when it happens with the opening ad but it's pretty intolerable when it happens with the mid-video ads. I don't know if its my internet absolutely sucking (even over various internet providers through the years), my hardware sucking (even with various computers and modems involved) or Blip just being garbage but I just cannot deal with it. It turns these videos that are supposed to be entertainment into aggravation.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I'd rather be able to skip the ads by donating or buying product from the producer than watching those ads.
Ok how do I get in contact with blip about the advertisement thing? Cause when I watched your regular reviews the ads play fine, but then I tried watching one of your vlogs and I got the 90 sec. thing which never happened before.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why people have such a problem. They have ads before movies and on TV right? I wish you had addressed the one or two who like to put you down for having the nerve to want to make money for your product. How dare you want to be able to afford food! I admit when I started watching your stuff I watched on YouTube because, well, didn't care. Now that I am a huge fan and respect you and everyone else I always watch content on the site. Why is it so hard for some people to ignore ads? Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWait. I live in Canada... and you're saying the ads only play if I was living in the USA or in UK? Well, that certainly explains why they don't play where I live.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I still find it odd about it. They used to be played whenever I watched one of your videos or one of Doug Walker's videos, and yet they don't play where I live anymore. It sucks that I can't have the ads.
usually only in the USA or UK.... well that explains why ive never had to watch ads on blip, i dont have an adblocker so ive wondered why i cant see your ads.(i live in norway)
ReplyDeleteI never quite understood the point in ad blockers. At the most you're waiting three minutes for something to be done and it's only one or two per video. Hell, sometimes you get lucky and it's about something you like, such as the last few weeks where the Star Trek: Into Darkness trailer has continually shown up on Blip.
ReplyDeleteKnew about this a long time ago when mid-vid ads began to show up. I never use ad-blockers, but maybe because I live in Canada blip just don't have ads for me. Youtube does though.
ReplyDeleteNow I don't know how much Youtube pays compare to blip, but maybe you can consider putting up youtube mirrors for us out-of-towners?
I really don't mind the ads, to be honest. Most of the time I use your show as background "noise" while I'm playing a game or something. Except when it's a new episode, of course. Other than that I don't even need to see what's going on, I can picture it when I hear it. Come to think of it, that sound a bit sad. On the other hand, you got me into reading comics, so I'm more than happy to support your show. Keep it up Lewis!
ReplyDeleteNo.
ReplyDeleteI haven´t watched the video yet. I usually use adblock. However i whitelist a lot of sites who i like such as yours.
ReplyDeleteHope this video helps to keep the show because it woul honestly be sad if you had to quit just because you can´t live from the reviews anymore.
Well I had AdBlocker on with your site disabled. Today I disabled the entire AdBlock to see how it will look and if it's looks OK I'll remove it so at least you'll get there money from me since I can't afford to pay anything.
ReplyDeleteI actually had a filter that let blip ads go through. Since blip started the heavy-handed nonsense, the filter has failed. I'm getting the 90 second anti-ad despite having ALWAYS let them play. Disabling Adblock flat out isn't an option, so here's what I've been doing: at work, I open a window in the background and call up the blip pages of people I regularly watch (Atop the 4th wall, Doug Walker, SFdebris, etc.) and then play a random video. Those videos are on autoplay, ads intact. I've been letting them loop for roughly 6 hours a night. I can't do that at home as without Adblock blip also crashes like crazy thanks to being stuck on Windows 8.
ReplyDeleteA shame the old trick for dealing with blip ads stopped working: back in the day you could click on an ad and it would end, and your pop-up blocker would prevent the new page from opening. I guess advertisers felt that wasn't a good use of them despite, you know, us still seeing a bit of the ad.
I've never used ad-blockers in the past, and to this day, never plan to, despite how badly I'd really love to. (Many advertisements annoy me to no end, most of all ones that forcefully pull up another window, to try and avoid you closing it before their advertisement can load.)
ReplyDeleteHowever, I know advertisements are there for a reason. Heck, my father at one point used advertisements on his own personal business website as a means of getting a little extra money on the side, to help pay for bills and such, beyond his employment at that time, and I know how little you get for seemingly countless views/clicks, which of what I know, has reduced EVEN MORE to this day. So, I truly do feel where you're coming from with this one, Lewis.
Much like with Sean(HopeWithinChaos) I gladly donate a couple bucks to producers I like, when I have the opportunity and ability to do so, and considering I've watched your entire library of reviews more than once, I can say with certainty you're among the online producers that I genuinely am happy to support, even if my donation is just enough to get you a sandwich or a beverage of some sort.
I'll stop before I ramble too much, all in all, keep up the amazing work Lewis, and know I'm stickin with you no matter where this train derails and jumps off to in the future. You sir, are a great guy. =)
-Anthony.
Another suggestion for people with problematic adblockers is to try and use another browser program to watch the show on. My default is firefox but I watch your show on google chrome because the chrome version of my adblocker lets me whitelist your site without issues while my firefox chokes half the time. Love your shows and hope this helps you out Lewis.
ReplyDeleteHonest question - how much would I have to donate using the Donate button in order to equal the revenue you would lose from me using AdBlock on the next 100 episodes? And is this a fair trade from your perspective, or are there other complications?
ReplyDeleteim out of the zone of advertisment, i put your site, TGWTG and blip in the white list anyway in case my country start to get ads, i dont have a credit card to purchase or donate, but i want to thanks you for the effort. when i get a credit card im going to donate because you make a great show and it shines, for all that thx.
ReplyDeleteP.S: BTW you do international shipping of the t-shirts to south america?
I always watch the ads at the beginning of videos, even though sometimes blip can get weird and freeze on ads and just not continue. Still, when that happens I just wait, because it usually fixes itself. I don't have the resources to buy a shirt or anything (i wish I did) but I always make sure to support the show by watching the ads. I hope you can keep going for a long time.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, AdBlocker is a necessity for me in my current predicament. When I.watched using a computer, I kept the ads on. However, I am currently without a computer, and so my only connection to the internet is an Android phone. For some reason, Blip ads are inconsistent, and they don't work 99% of the time. And when ads don't work, videos won't play either. The only way I can get videos to play for the time being is AdBlocker. I can assure you, however that once I get a working computer again, I will be watching the ads once more. I'll also be looking into donating to all the producers I've watched, in order to make up for lost revenue.
ReplyDeleteThis appeal was logical and without being emotionally charged or containing moral condemnation. I will white-list blip and your website for this reason.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's come to the point where he actually needs to explain to people why the ads need to play. How can people be so ignorant to not understand their necessity without Lewis telling them the obvious?
ReplyDeleteWell, with how great AT4W is, I just hope this video reaches all the viewers.
hello linkara (or do you prefer lewis or Mr lovhaug ?) i just wanted to write to you and tell you that i have just recently discovered your reviews online and have become a fan, and i also just wanted to say that i have found your reviews to be very entertaining and probably most importantly fair but anyway to the point i can quite happily sit through what is at worst sixty seconds of ads if it supports you and the fine work that you do
ReplyDeletethis has inspired me to block your ads even more and pirate your new dvd
ReplyDelete"Question about the Ads that you get revenue, do you get revenue for click-through ads as well? Meaning if there is an ad playing and there is a link within the ad itself do you get extra if people click to go to that site?"
ReplyDeleteIt used to be that way. I don't know if it's still the case.
Could you get a stick and prod at someone with the notion to get ads working in Australia?
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't mind them (I even find the Transformers G1-esque ad bumpers adorable) maybe because I have a warped sense of humor to the point that the one ad I DO get (It's an oil ad or... Something. It doesn't make much sense in context.) is a guy riding an engine like a mechanical bull... Said engine complete with a gigantic fan-o-death not a foot from the guy's groin. How he survives getting throw over it is beyond me, but the straight-faced attitude of it just makes me laugh all the more.
Not to mention I've devoured a good lot of AT4W having discovered it about three days ago. (Side note, is there any plan to condense the plot arcs into 'need to know' bites? I'm not quite sure which videos to watch to get a basic rundown.)
Well now I feel bad. I don't get the ads, AND it's prohibitively expensive for me to buy merchandise and have it shipped to Canada.
ReplyDelete"I mean I know this is all hypothetical postulating, but why not just find a sponser and do it that way? Even if it's just a 5 second TV spot it'll still be smarter in the long run for advertisers."
ReplyDeleteA few reasons:
-Advertising changes. According to Film Brain, in the UK the ads they've been seeing on blip vids are ads for Star Trek: Into Darkness. Integrating ads into the videos means the ads go out of date, especially if it's for specific sales, seasonal offers, or other products.
-That's not how blip's advertising model works.
-How exactly do I go about approaching a business' franchise location and saying, "Hi, I have a series on the internet that makes fun of bad comic books. Give me money and I'll advertise your product."?
Mine is a strange one, though I could see the Ads during the opening of videos but for some reason it doesn't do it for mid-rolls. Which is strange because I do see the ads on youtube videos be it both the ones that pop up or the ones that start before the video. I got nothing against the ads either depending on what gets advertized. They could be cute and funny, like the sour patch kids tollbooth ad I seen many times on this site months ago. Or very annoying such as that "Coke Zero True Story" Ad that literally screams its music at you upon watching. That being said this video did bring a tear to my eye and I am gonna try to see if I could find the problem out for mine.
ReplyDelete"There will always be bad comics but whether there will always be enough for a weekly show is another matter. You have to mine for material and whether you're mining for gold, coal or bad comics all mines become unsustainable sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to come off as doom and gloom, I'm just concerned about whether you know what to do after AT4W?"
Oh, trust me, I will never run out of bad comics to review on this show. ^_^ The reason this year has been less bad comics has been stuff that I assumed would be bad or because the standards have gone up due to how really awful some stuff is, so comparing them it's like "Yeah, this sucks, but it's not ______."
I whitelisted your site with my adblocker.
ReplyDeleteI realized that some of blips apps weren't showing the ads, so I've restricted myself from using it unless I don't have my laptop on me at school. I normally watch AT4W after my classes, or sometimes in between them, but this is if I can't wait to watch the next one. I myself don't like Ad Blockers because your very reason why we shouldn't. I watch a lot of other people's shows on the internet, and for groups that stream they might not make a lot of money of it but it's still a small amount of money. Blip's ads are normally pretty short, and if their some what longer it's a good time to go grab a drink, or a bite to eat. I hope a lot of people stop using Blockers for your sake Linkara, and anybody else present or future reviewers.
ReplyDelete"Honest question - how much would I have to donate using the Donate button in order to equal the revenue you would lose from me using AdBlock on the next 100 episodes? And is this a fair trade from your perspective, or are there other complications?"
ReplyDeleteHard to say, unfortunately. The ad revenue differs from day to do and is calculated per-1000 views (and approximated to decimal places for less-than round numbers, of course), so I couldn't really tell you what would be appropriate for that. Plus if you want to watch a video again, is that counted?
Basically I just say if you wish to donate, donate however much you feel is appropriate.
Very elegant concise and to the point. Thank you that actually answers a couple of questions I've had.
ReplyDeleteI hate to do this to you, but is there any chance you could talk to Lupa about her ads? She doesn't seem very receptive about the topic, and I'm just trying to point out that in her videos her mid role ads cut her off mid sentence sometimes. I shouldn't be required to pre play those ads just to get uninterrupted sentences. Again I hate to bring you into this, but I believe this is a problem she needs to adress. One way or the other thank you for at least hearing me out.
"P.S: BTW you do international shipping of the t-shirts to south america?"
ReplyDeleteDon't know off the top of my head. You'd have to check Printfection's site, but I'm pretty sure they do.
If you want to support the show and have a browser without an AdBlock program, I highly recommend opening it up and queue up a video on blip itself. Blip does an auto-loop if you're on it directly, and what's nice is there are browser add-ons that let you mute all the browser sounds. That way I can AdBlock the videos I want to see without interruption while still running other random ones in the background. The other day I apparently watched half of all AT4W episodes from 2012...
ReplyDelete"this has inspired me to block your ads even more and pirate your new dvd"
ReplyDeleteIf you're already blocking the ads, how can you block them "even more?"
"I hate to do this to you, but is there any chance you could talk to Lupa about her ads? She doesn't seem very receptive about the topic, and I'm just trying to point out that in her videos her mid role ads cut her off mid sentence sometimes. I shouldn't be required to pre play those ads just to get uninterrupted sentences. Again I hate to bring you into this, but I believe this is a problem she needs to adress. One way or the other thank you for at least hearing me out."
ReplyDeleteShe's very well aware of that problem. It's just the ad placement needs to be down to the millisecond, so it can be difficult to get it at the end of a sentence.
It's really her own choice about whether she wishes to place commercial bumpers or not and I don't really have a huge problem with her doing it her way for her show.
"this has inspired me to block your ads even more and pirate your new dvd"
ReplyDeleteIf you're already blocking the ads, how can you block them "even more?"
magic
I appreciate you making this video. And I have made sure to whitelist everyone I can that are content creators I want to support. :)
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate you making this video. And have gone back to make sure you, and other content creators I want to support, are whitelisted. :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could watch your ads, but even with no blocking software enabled, even on browsers with no adblock at all, Blip insists that I'm blocking them and makes me wait for a minute and a half before videos. I'd happily sit through a 30 second ad but right now I'm being punished for something I haven't done, and it's making watching TGWTG videos very tiresome. Could it be because I live in the UK? Does anyone have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Lovhaug,
ReplyDeleteI have a technical question. I live in Japan, a region that does not show the mid video ads (Sorry, I promise I watch them whenever I'm in the US). However, we do get ads that play before the video starts. I hope you get paid for that.
My question is this: The ads in Japan come with a "Skip this ad" button that appears after 5 seconds, does count as a viewed ad as far as your income goes? Or should I watch all the way through just to be safe?
Please keep up the great work, I love the show. It is appointment viewing for me. I even hope one day to be try my hand at review video producing myself (It's a lot harder than you make it look!).
Thank you for your time.
Paypal, paypal, paypal!
ReplyDelete"My question is this: The ads in Japan come with a "Skip this ad" button that appears after 5 seconds, does count as a viewed ad as far as your income goes? Or should I watch all the way through just to be safe?"
ReplyDeleteI honestly couldn't say. Over here in the States, I've never run into a Blip ad with the option to skip, so I don't know if it's counted or not.
And yes, I still get revenue for the pre-roll even if you don't see the mid-roll. ^_^
"And yes, I still get revenue for the pre-roll even if you don't see the mid-roll." That's all I needed to know. Thanks and looking forward to the DVD.
ReplyDeleteOk, problem solved. Custom HOSTS file was blocking the ads. Seeing as it has been causing me trouble than convenience over the past year I deleted the damn thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing my part and letting the ads play but two questions.
ReplyDelete1. Have you told anyone about the videos being downloaded and possibly uploaded on Youtube? Have you ordered takedowns?
2. I bumped into a forum and it said "Why don't you get a job?". I responded that THIS is your job. Thoughts about the job saying you need to get a real job?
Sorry, if I sound unclear.
"1. Have you told anyone about the videos being downloaded and possibly uploaded on Youtube? Have you ordered takedowns?"
ReplyDeleteOriginally I recorded a bit about youtube uploads in this as well, but decided to keep it focused on advertisements. One battle at a time. And no, I haven't ordered any takedowns. Whenever TGWTG has tried in the past to stop it, they come back with a new account and everything uploaded again in a week.
"2. I bumped into a forum and it said "Why don't you get a job?". I responded that THIS is your job. Thoughts about the job saying you need to get a real job?"
When someone is paying taxes as part of it, it becomes a real job. As such, yeah, this IS my real job. I invest money in equipment, software, hardware, and props. Or perhaps they'd like to start telling TV directors/producers/writers that THEY should get real jobs, too.
I disabled ad blocker on your page so you can get the money you need to pay for your show and other things.
ReplyDeleteI never use adblockers, never have, never will. In fact, I don't even mute the ads.
ReplyDeleteAn idea I had, if you really don't want the Donate button is that you could set up an Amazon wishlist full of props for the show that people could buy for you. I'm not sure off the top of my head how to do it, but I know it can be done. (A podcast I listen to had a guest who did this...)
ReplyDeleteThis way people get the excitement of seeing their contribution directly effect the show, so it becomes a win-win
I find the ads to be the perfect time to hone my Solitaire skills. takes just as much time it not less if you get a bad run of cards. Just saying, its an alternative to ad block.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and I forgot to say this. You should put this video on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses as well. Also, make a Blip version for those who watch AT4W on the Blip site (of course removing the opening message about uploading it on YouTube)
ReplyDeleteSometimes the ads on your videos, especially the middle one/s, just seem to randomly not play for me. I hope you're not getting dinged for that.
ReplyDeleteI just mute and let the ads play. Since this you brought this thing about adblockers up, I've even been letting the end one play through instead of just closing the tab. Hope it helps.
I have less problem with ads in the reviews of content providers who plan for the ad's presence. There's a fad to black, commercial great, fantastic, I'll walk the ten feet to my kitchen, grab a drink, walk back, ad's over, continue the entertainment. (As for the tv versus internet thing: I don't watch tv live, I skip the ads, and I pay for the privilege to do so. It's not an apt comparison for or for millions of digital cable users.)
ReplyDeleteIt's much more annoying when the reviewer is being cut off in mid-sentence every two minutes of a ten minute video. I had to stop watching one of Lupa's Manic Episodes videos yesterday because the same two ads were interrupting her in mid-word over and over.
Curiously, since I put TGWTG on my ad-blocker's "allowed" list, I can't find the log-in button to comment on videos. As far as I can tell, it's actually hidden behind one of the ads plastered all over the site. Weird.
Blip are considering running ads in Scandinavia. At least that's something.
ReplyDeleteAdBlock is like weed removal. It gets rid of everything you want it to get rid of, plus a whole lot more.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to use AdBlock simply because I'm afraid that it could think that something is an ad when it really isn't, and it will block it for me. And I'll never know what I missed.
That said, I am EXTREMELY annoyed at the current blip ad, which is just a "Make sure to wear your seatbelt" message. It treats me like I'm five years old.
I very rarely mute ads, but I am muting this one. It's so patronizing.
But you still get paid for it.
There have been some TGWTG videos that I felt were not worth watching the ads for, though admittedly, none that were made by you. But I still watched the ads, because I did technically watch the video. If I think it's a bad video, I just won't watch it again.
But AT4W is awesome! So I'm not gonna be doing that.
I support you, Lewis. And I always will.
I saw the argument in the YouTube comments about whether or not this counts as a "real job". Just to offer up my opinion, it does.
ReplyDeleteBut just a quick thought: Why not make a "The Making of an AT4W episode", the same way that Doug made a "Making of an NC episode" video? That way, the people who don't share my opinion will see how much effort it is for you, and hopefully respect you enough to not be ignorant about whether or not this is a "real job" and then they'll take you a bit more seriously.
Looking forward to your DVD, will there be a trailer to look forward to as well? (hey considerng how good your trailers are for the October Halloween review series, can't hep but be curious)
ReplyDeleteStart with the average amount of money your ads bring in per month. (If you do not know, average for the year, or hell, assume your best month for the purposes of this calculation.)
ReplyDeleteNext, multiply this amount by 100 (since about 1% of people who you ask to do something online will actually perform that action.)
What's that amount come to? Five bucks per 100 people? 50 bucks per 100 people? Whatever that amount is, just say it.
Now, just note next to the donate button on the top page that if we block ads, you would like us to please donate (amount) or more.
Alternatively, you could do what Penny Arcade, did and do a Kickstarter for the goal "make Atop the Fourth Wall ad-free for one year."
Or even just put a little donation meter that says how much more you need.
You may have noticed that more and more people are choosing to block all web content and only allow specific content through. This is not something most of us chose to do. We were driven to this by an increasingly malicious and invasive web.
If we know all the IPs and domain names of your advertisers, it is possible we could create exceptions for each rule.
But please note that even then, if (for example) a domain name has a low WOT score, or an IP is on a public blacklist of known phishers and scammers, ordinary web users like us may not be able to justify creating exceptions for those domains and IPs. Even though they may claim to be perfectly legitimate advertisers these days, we can't verify that firsthand.
It is increasingly seen as normal to block all web content except the content that you want to get through. Already unnecessary scripts and cross-site image requests outnumber the actual content 20 to 1 or more on a typical website. All it takes is for one of those to have a malicious user at the other end of it, and a site cannot be trusted. And it was recently revealed that advertisers DO NOT KNOW who their own affiliates further up the chain are. If you are seeing an increase in ad-blockers, it is because this is the only safe and sane way to browse an increasingly hostile web.
Please give us as many alternate ways of paying you as possible. The Donation button is an excellent start. (I understand there are fees slurped out by paypal first before the money actually reaches you, and any donation below a certian threshold would actually cost money to collect, etc. The more we know about how much you need and how much gets lost in the transaction, the easier it is for us to send you what you need.)
Thank you for giving us years of free entertainment. Most of us cannot justify browsing the web unfiltered. If people like us are becoming the rule, not the exception, then you need a new business model. Help us help you discover it.
Anonymous, you are still leaving out two important problems:
ReplyDelete-Blip now REQUIRES all videos to have preroll ads on them. You're given five exceptions for videos and that's it. Where exactly am I supposed to host 400+ videos that average around 400 megs per episode if not on Blip?
-Assuming this model idea of yours works, what exactly happens in case of an emergency that goes beyond the funding of the ad-free-for-a-year, be it a medical issue or I drop the camera and it goes breaky. The current system allows me to set aside money with each paycheck to build up savings - it's a continuous revenue stream.
"But just a quick thought: Why not make a "The Making of an AT4W episode", the same way that Doug made a "Making of an NC episode" video? That way, the people who don't share my opinion will see how much effort it is for you, and hopefully respect you enough to not be ignorant about whether or not this is a "real job" and then they'll take you a bit more seriously."
ReplyDeleteThe Making-Of video will be on the DVD.
Does Itunes affect the revenue stream at all? I never use adblocks but sometimes I also like to hear AT4W at the gym.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that I completely understand you and support your call to the audience. What I'm about to say is not about "I don't want to see ads" and isn't meant to raise points for the Ad-Block users.
ReplyDeleteI do watch the ads and I feel bad when they don't show up.
However, I want to tell you a bit about Blip's advertisement handling outside of the US and UK, in my case Germany.
When I started watching your videos, and the videos of other reviewers on tgwtg, blip didn't showed German ads. Instead, I got US and UK advertisements. It was a very good time.
Now, it's a chance of luck what you get.
You either get a commercial from the US or UK. Those work great and are no problem to watch. They're not annoying (not as much as some German ads...), they are short and the volume is about the level of the video itself.
Then there are occasions where no ad is playing, or only the middle-vid ad is missing.
There are also the cases that you got a German ad directly from blip. These are either skip-able after 5 seconds or pretty normal ads, also no complains here.
You happen to stumble about YouTube Advertisement too. In this case, it's a YouTube vid that's embedded as ad. You have the chance to skip the window after 5 seconds, but if you're unlucky, blip doesn't starts the video afterwards - so your best bet is to start the video. These are up to 11 minutes long. Thankfully, again, you can skip them after 5 seconds. No issues there. If you're lucky, blip doesn't bug afterwards and the video starts.
Then there are the cases where you can choose your ad between several, German advertisements. These are problematic. Because if you're very unlucky, you happen to stumble about an add that goes on forever, is not skip-able, absolutely annoying and... honestly just a bad advertisement because besides dropping the products name 1-2 times, they talk about completely different things no one is interested in... >.<
And if you're out of luck, blip doesn't starts the video afterwards.
You can however refuse to start one of those ads. After a short while of waiting, blip changes to a standard advertisement, which is usually short, pleasing and bug-free.
Then you have an ad you can skip, but after skipping, another ad plays while the video already starts in the background. The new ad of course, isn't skip-able and outside of control, so... either bear double-audio for a while and then go back to the beginning of the video or hit the pause button - which will pause the video, but not the ad :)
You can find your ways around blip's mechanisms after a while, but to be honest, it's very tricky. At least here in Germany, don't know how it is anywhere else. And I know that these problems can be solved. YouTube handles advertisements pretty good, as all of their ads are either short or skip-able after 5 seconds, have a nice quality (no audio-buzzes or anything like that) and are often enough either very interesting ads, or those you already know from TV. Twitch does the same. I get German ads from them, too, and it's usually short, annoyingly ones.
So I really don't know how blip fails to change the problem (because I'm pretty sure that this got reported to them several times).
I still bear with their ads though. It's a price I'm willing to pay in order to support your show and all the other shows I like to watch. Besides, this is really not your fault, so you shouldn't pay for it.
I can understand that there are people who aren't willing to keep up with that. And I think for them it's great that there is a Donate Button now :)
Also, looking forward to the DVD!
I'd like to comment BLIP about my inability to see the ads, but I can't seem to find a proper contact email. I know it may be because I'm Canada, but one way or another I am going to figure why sometimes I see ads and a lot of times I don't.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I'm going to purchase that DVD when it comes out and I'll consider one of the T-Shirts as well.
I agree with you and I support your ads. Actually, this is just a slight repeat of what I read a comment or two above. Regarding YouTube; I've found I tend to prefer it at night simply for the fact it has unlimited playlists ( I need something playing to sleep), The problem I have with Blip is that it only plays 5 eps than repeats. If you want a different set, you have to go back into archives and get a different 5. And when so many are (wrongly) getting thousands of hits from YOUR honest work, doesn't seem right. So why NOT get that little bit extra?
ReplyDeleteI always keep the ads on. I will keep the ads on from now until "However long this train lasts". You are worth it. You put out a great show with very well thought out humor and some really great opinions. Do I agree with every ad? No of course not. Do I want to help people pay their bills however I can? Oh heck yes.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the ads in videos go not go crazy, like an ad every 2 minutes or something, I am more than happy to watch however long they go just to watch you.
I will never block ads for you.
I wanna tell about something. I tried to turn off Adblock, to see how it would work.
ReplyDeleteInteresting enough, it still said I blocked the website's ads.
And then it hit me. I use Ghostery, a Firefox add-on that blocks any cookie or utility that tracks user's browsing habits. I turned it off, then tried to play a video. Presto, ads started showing.
I'm sorry Linkara, I can turn my adblock off, but I can't respect a company that doesn't respect my privacy.
I'll donate some money via Paypal, if everything comes along my plans.
Have you considered releasing some of your longer vlogs through iTunes as audio only, as a pay-per-download?
ReplyDeleteI realize you do very few of these, but for an hour long discussion of a movie - such as your review of the "Evil Dead" remake - an MP3 file is much more convenient than being tied to a desktop or even a smartphone screen.
created an exception for your site right after I sent that e-mail a long time ago. Keep up the good work man.
ReplyDeletepersonally i would white list the blip site, but i have no idea how to work my firfox adblocker. though the reason why i use it is because i am afraid of viruses and malware. got an exceedingly nasty bit of malware a while back, utterly devastating.
ReplyDeletehowever, i am not about to deny some of my favorite entertainers on not only the net, but in general, from funds. so i will be using my normal itnernet explorer to view tgwtg videos for now on. i find firefox the superior browser, but i'll tolerate it if it is the difference between continuing to watch atop the fourth wall and you retiring from making videos so you can actually earn some money.
keep up the good work dude.
I'll admit I don't use ad-blocker, mostly because I never had the effort to go hunt down a thing like that. But I'll also admit I kinda get annoyed with ads in the videos. Not because they're there, but I remember waaaaaaay back when I discovered NC there was the one LifeSavers ad that never fully loaded, so it took FOREVER to wait for it to end.
ReplyDeleteThat said though, my irritations weren't enough to go get adblocker, but it did annoy me. Since the ads are actually fully loaded and I don't have to wait for them to buffer, it's not so bad.
Do you have anything to do with a lot of your videos being removed from YouTube? The reason I watch them over here instead of here is because they let me make playlists.
ReplyDeleteSomebody get Blip on the phone, tell them their video service is lacking.
I agree with everything you said. :) I never block ads.
ReplyDeleteOn a happier note:
Is the AT4W DVD going to be like the TGETG DVF in that it has old AND new material, or is this going to be a DVD with just all-new kindling?
"Is the AT4W DVD going to be like the TGETG DVF in that it has old AND new material, or is this going to be a DVD with just all-new kindling?"
ReplyDeleteAll new material.
"Do you have anything to do with a lot of your videos being removed from YouTube? The reason I watch them over here instead of here is because they let me make playlists."
Wasn't me personally, but I applaud them anyway.
I don't want my videos on youtube.
Yikes--excuse my horrible spelling there, but thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is really a tricky situation. Normally when a company acts heavy-handed it's easy to vilify them and whoever works with them (anything related to the music industry comes to mind). In this case a company is acting heavy-handed but it allows a lot of people to focus entirely on their passion as a job. The idea of the current form of advertisements and if they need to evolve also comes up, but that doesn't change the here and now of course so it isn't really a good time to raise the bigger issue questions.
ReplyDeleteStill whether or not you think blip's approach is dickish or not (I do though I won't compare it to the vaccination thing like someone did on Youtube) it is hard to not be on the producers' side. A pity not everyone can be SFdebris and somehow juggle a family, what are apparently constant water pipe problems, teaching and producing typically 3 videos a week. Yeah he takes money for the requests he does, but that pretty much just goes into buying the DVDs and what-not.
I think my point to all this was Team Linkara, please support.
I understand where you're coming from on this one. I'm very willing to sit through the ads on AT4W, HOPR, and anything you and the rest of the Channel Awesome folks do, because as you pointed out, yeah, this is your job. And really, I think Blip actually has a very equitable ad policy. Keeping the ads to no more than 30 seconds, more or less, in general, is fair to everybody. I don't feel compelled to use ad blocks or the "skip ad" button, if available, most of the time on those shorter ads, which means that you get the money you've earned for making videos and the ad servers can sell the ads for a better price.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, I like the mid-roll ads, too, because I'm the sort of person who likes to stop whatever I'm watching partway through to get up and walk around my apartment, grab some more coffee, or use the bathroom if need be, and the mid-rolls give me a convenient place to do that.
There is, however, one thing and one thing only that's ever made me consider using ad blocks, and it has more to do with the way the ad services place the ads than anything. In general, I won't mind sitting through a movie trailer to see something like AT4W. I can see that, because I'm going to get a half-hour's worth of entertainment out of that. The one gripe I did have, since I haven't had to deal with it lately, is when those ad services say they want me to watch a two and a half minute theatrical trailer for "Bad Parody Movie 53" before I can see somebody's "Farscape In 30 Seconds" video. The good news is I haven't seen that happen in awhile, which makes me think that a lot of ad vendors have come up with a better way of matching the length of the ads with the length of the videos they come with.
Thanks for explaining the situation with the ads and ad blocks to us. I think I understand a little better now than I did before.
Do you know what Blips rules regarding what counts as an ad view for your credit? I know youtube has a bunch of restrictions in place to keep producers from gaming the system such as you don't get credit if the viewer was linked from a recommended video link. Also in theory couldn't viewers like my self who had once watched your vids with ad block just let blip auto play your videos while at work to make up for it?
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty Linkara the only reason I had my ad blocker on for so long was well because in the old days of most of these video sites the ads were quite malicious and extremely intrusive. I had many security concerns about the ads as a Computer Tech. Now that Blip has matured as a platform and that the ads are not that bad and none contain malware I have since turned the Ad blocker off. In all honesty its well worth it to support your work.
ReplyDeleteNow as a Guy with an Associates in PC and Network Security let me add the following list:
Does Blip Contain any Malicious Ads? -> NO
Do Blip ads cause popups outside the Flash Video? -> NO
Can Blip Ads allow the possibility of System Hijacking? -> NO
Is there a way to present Bilp forom Accessing info on my system or to disable connection to my MIC or Camera? YES simply right click on the video and select SETTINGS select the first tab entitle PRIVACY and select DENY when finished click CLOSE.
Finally,
For best results watch on FIREFOX!
CHROME has issues with Ad Block Chrome APP not recognizing Blips Flash Videos as Unblocked.
Well.. That's All I got...
Live Long and PROSPER!
While I dislike watching ads, I have always understood that they are a necessary evil. If you don't get your revenue, then I don't get to be entertained every Monday. So, despite not liking them, I always let the ads play through. Although both you and Doug have made them more bearable with your neat little commercial break skits, so thank you for that. On a second note, I'm really looking forward to the DVD.
ReplyDeleteLinkara, I'm a Canadian viewer and ads stopped playing on your videos a month or so ago. I was really disappointed because I enjoy giving people like you my money without actually losing any of my own money in the process. As a university student, I don't have a lot of disposable income for buying merchandise or donations. :(
ReplyDelete(I actually think I rack up more views on your videos than most people, since I have difficulty sleeping without some constant source of sound and I usually use your videos for it, so this is probably a quintuple loss since I watch at least one of your videos every day.)
Do you know if there's a way to get around this, with proxies or something?
So, between the TGWTG website, this blog, the Blip website, and the Blip mobile app, is there any difference at all in terms of ad revenue? Or do you even have any way of knowing?
ReplyDeleteSomeone else mentioned that seatbelt ad. I know you don't control the ad content but I still wanted to chip in my two cents. That ad is seriously disturbing in ways I don't think it is aware that it is. I think I'd rather pay a $30 fine than have a mysterious arm reach into my car out of nowhere and into my personal airspace to buckle up my seatbelt.
I'm sorry, I'm the (possibly was) exception, I downloaded ad blocker because blip refused to play videos for me. It would try to load the ad it wouldn't load, and just cancel the video. I would whitelist you, but I basically wrote off putting effort into trying to get ads to play the second they refused to play. The amount of time I've gotten back from how much I watched really added up as well, and I'm to "far gone" so to speak. I'm sorry if I upgrade my computer I won't download adblocks again.
ReplyDeleteIt was more because of your Twitter comments than this video (since I whitelisted Blip before this video was posted, even though it took three or four tries to get the right level of sensitivity), but you were the one who actually got through to me just how directly your revenue streams were tied to the advertisements, rather than a combination of ad views and show views. I feel like I owe Channel Awesome, Spoony, and AVGN an apology now.
ReplyDeleteI can't do anything about it on my computer at the office when I watch at lunch, but from now on, when I'm watching videos at home, ads ahoy.
I won't deny that I contribute to this problem slightly. I'm just so incredibly busy during the day that the only time I have to watch videos online is during the evenings when I'm in bed.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't exactly bring a computer to bed, so I have to watch them on my iPhone. The iPhone does show the ads at the start and end of the video, but it does not show midroll ads. Any reason why this could be?
(I do try to make up for it by rewatching the video if there is a midroll ad in there, but sometimes I am admittedly tired and lazy.)
I probely will take off add block, but the volume problems with the adds is just so stupid that they just scream to be add blocked.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any adblocker, but I don't get ads anyway because apparently blip doesn't have any regional ads for Portugal. Nothing I can do about it.
ReplyDeleteI'll buy the DVD whenever that's out though.
I didn't even realise you had adverts on here until I saw the Dragnet review. I always thought you did the "We'll be right back" thing to emulate T.V. shows. I live in New Zealand so Even with adblock disabled I don't see the the ads but let us know when you release that D.V.D. I'd be very interested in buying that.
ReplyDeleteI donated a whole dollar via your paypal donate button a few seconds ago. Don't spend it all at once :p
I've got to say, this whole scenario is rather disheartening. After weeks of Lewis pointing out the incredibly logical reasons he and other CA producers need the audience to let the adverts play, the arguments continue to the point where he feels it necessary to make this video explaining in detail why CA producers need to let the adverts play.
ReplyDeleteAnd...some people are STILL arguing.
To those, I can only hope they find the strength of will to remove their heads from the arse, and stop being such self-entitled jackbags. They are the epitome of selfish, and I hope their computers explode like terrible bird gifs. I have rarely been so angry at a comments thread...
here is the thing... I dont have adblock working on blip or any other reviewer site out there
ReplyDeletehowever the ads NEVER play to me adblock or not, so I aways get that damn message that makes me wait 90 seconds for it, but what can I do?
like I said, while I have adblock I have it disabled on most sites (only mostly using it on sites with dangerous ads or stuff like that) and still not only will the ads not play I am aways treated to that message (hell, I re-check to see if adblock didnt turn itself back on or somethign every time I get that message)
Point well taken. Linkara, my blocker is off.
ReplyDeletePerfect timing for me, I just installed an adbock last week because I was worried about certain ads being virus's and had forgotten to white list Atop the Fourth Wall. I white list all sites which use ads legitimately to support themselves and have no problem sitting through ads in order to get content that I like. Ad block for me is just a safety measure again malicious sites.
ReplyDeletewell been from Mexico the ads at the middle of the videos didnt start playing 'till recently (maybe a month ago) but i do let 'em play.
ReplyDeletethanks for the great videos man, hope this keeps going for a long time
(excuse my crappy english btw)
Hey Linkara,
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, would you ever consider selling in-video ads as a means of supporting AT4W? For example, some of the mayor podcast networks such as Frogpants have a sponsorship systems were anyone(fan or company) can pay for a segment or a full episode of a show, and in return they get a quick in show message like "help support my kickstarter" or something.
Either way, the current ad system works well for me. I think it's perfectly fair.
2 things:
ReplyDelete1. I don't use any ad blockers but have seen that message a lot recently. For about three days this past week, I got those instead of the ads consistently.
2. Connection issues sometimes causes the videos to not resume after the midpoint ad. I'd love it if the option existed to what the videos split into two parts (which actually means 4 ad views instead of 3).
Regardless, love your work and am in no way trying to prevent you from earning your primary source of revenue.
I don't think I have an ad blocker. If I do, I don't remember what it's called or when I installed it. Is Canada included in the list of regions in which ads can play? ~_^
ReplyDeleteNot much that I can say other than that I do on this site. If it's an ad on a preview of a game on YouTube... yeah I'm not sitting through an ad to watch an ad. On places like this, sure. It's not like I actually watch the ads here, I just switch to another tab for thirty seconds time.
ReplyDeleteSo, if I see this right, I only get the anti adblock message if there's something there to be adblocked. So I just don't get any ads. Makes sense, since I'm sitting in mainland Europe.
ReplyDeleteStill, I don't get why Blip doesn't play many ads outside the US.
Fun fact: According to the data tag on Blip, AT4W is in the ad categories Comedy, Comics, and Men. Does Blip not know about the hordes of fangirls?
Hopefully, this train lasts a good long while. Linkara, your work is better than about 90% of syndicated television. If anything, you should be making a ton more money than you do. And for this quality which, even if I don't always like it, really does make Mondays something exciting, a few ads are a simple price to pay.
ReplyDeleteFor those without ad blockers, maybe think about watching or listening to one of Linkara's videos while you do other stuff, just for that extra little bit of help. I play AT4W while gaming because it's often more engaging than what's on screen. Do what you can to help, because this guy...this guy is showing television how comedy is done.
I wish I had the money to buy a t-shirt, DVD, or especially the Harvey Christmas album, but I just don't I don't use adblocker though, so I still sit through all those. 90 seconds isn't to bad compared to 20-30 minutes. By the way, do you also get money for when ads air on older episodes? I've only been here for a few months, so I've been watching old episodes. I wonder if there's a way you could spam watch them so that you played the advertisements a lot.
ReplyDeleteLewis, I watch the ads on your site and I love what you do, keep being awesome!
ReplyDeleteWhen are we finally going to see the atrocity of Red Hood and the Outlaws? or Brute Force #4? or Salvation Run?
ReplyDeletei am very sorry Linkara. i didnt know about how you guys actually got the revenue from the site. heck i thought Channel Awesome had some kind of rich guys paying the bills and all that.
ReplyDeleteone of the only reasons i've ever had the adblock was because the ads took like two minutes instead of thirty seconds or they were massively repetitive. in some sites it does the ad every couple of minutes and just waste alot of time.
i am very sorry and heck i wish i knew that earlier. i'm very sorry
I don't use ad blocker I just play the video and restart the video before it ends, I watched the punisher 2099 review like 9 times with just watching two to three ads.
ReplyDeleteI just decided to allow ads on the all the pages in the thatguy domain. Honestly, I didn't really realize until recently that you had ads playing. The commercial bumps helped me see it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I do believe we should allow them since that is how content producers get paid (and I am one myself).
Linkara, I'd also like to know if you'd be interested in checking out my YouTube account. I know you like Power Rangers, and I've been making 3d megazords for the last few years (I even do requests). It's youtube.com/user/trueedge2097
I would really like your patronage, and I think you could enjoy some of my designs (some don't turn out right).
I was somehow unaware you were doing video production full time. I'm actually rather impressed by that, considering how low the per view payout can be (admittedly I'm only tangentially familiar with YouTube's rates, and not Blip's at all).
ReplyDeleteLet me make one thing clear.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I started using Adblock Plus is because advertising got so bad that it started not being able to play the video at all. That kind of shoddy programming from Blip.tv is unacceptable.
However I have now checked (disabling the adblock) and it seems that this problem has been fixed. Ads are playing again and I can watch the videos.
But it seems Adblock Plus has not added a function to whitelist. It has a filter list but that doesn't make blip.tv the exception, even when it has it on the list. If anything, it actually bypasses the 90 second PSA after an update to the add-on.
I am willing to support you and other members of TGWTG. But in order for that to happen, we need Blip.tv to become better in its advertising. These crashing and freezing problems and not good enough and if it persists, more people will not trust Blip.tv and look to adblockers in order to watch the video.
Advertisers also need to get better in how they make commercials. If you have to mute a commercial or find it unwatchable, the company is doing something wrong. The point of commercials is to sell a product. If nobody cares, what's the point? If it's unbearably unfunny, that doesn't help either.
I will whitelist Blip.tv but I want someone to help me figure out how to do that with Adblock Plus. Youtube I want to keep filtering because the advertising has gotten out of control there. They will plant long commercials on videos as short as 10 seconds and that is disgusting. That needs to be fixed but thankfully, Blip.tv doesn't go past 30 seconds for a 20-40 minute video.
So if anyone can help me with this Adblock Plus whitelisting, I would be most grateful.
You make your money doing this? No problem. The ads will play... I just won't watch them.
ReplyDeleteFair?
"You make your money doing this? No problem. The ads will play... I just won't watch them.
ReplyDeleteFair?"
Fair indeed. ^_^
You need to make money? Okay, but I have only one request:
ReplyDeleteCan you do another PSA on this, only funnier? Lloyd Kaufman does that on his youtube videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iqtP0fR07M
When I first started seeing advertisements in videos online, it pissed me off. when I saw that videos had 2 advertisements in each video it pissed me off more. Thinking in my mind how manipulative it seemed just rubbed me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteThen I learned what the adds where for, what they did.I now happily deal with the adds knowing that they helped support you linkara and others like you.
and since I havent said it before, thank you Linkara for providing such excellent content. Always something to look forward to on mondays
Personally, I fully grasp the whole ad thing and I do move to support that where possible, but I do think there are plenty of reasons not to do it. Besides just the fact that Blip seems incredibly glitchy with the things and constantly causes videos to stop or restart after an ad(which I'm willing to tolerate, but I could see where someone else wouldn't be), it could just be some people's computers can't handle Blip.
ReplyDeleteKind of the case with mine, my computer's ancient so I first got into on your stuff through Youtube. Now though between having another computer in the house and Blip support on my 360 (though it only plays the starting ads), I can at least watch properly and that's what I generally choose to do over Youtube, but I can see why someone would do otherwise, and I don't really think putting up videos pleading for people to stop is really going to accomplish much besides making you look desperate. Not saying that's the case but just the idea of doing it could easily paint a bad image for people.
I'm sorry Linkara but many of Blip's ad are very offensive and honestly I would rather sit through 90 seconds of nothing instead of 30 seconds of something that will be deliberately designed to be awful. If Blip had a system more like Hulu to pick and choose the things the ads are about or at least to have votes for ads that shouldn't be shown again or something to make it know that someone really hates an ad, I would be more willing to turn off my Adblock. Avoiding nasty ads is part of why I stopped watching cable tv in the first place, I'm not going to start doing it online.
ReplyDeleteI very much would like to apologise for using ad block on my browser while watching the various producers that I've come to enjoy the content of. The videos are always of great quality and honestly if watching 3 ads that are 30 seconds in length nets money for the producer then so much the better. I don't know about others, but on your videos I get an ad at the beginning of the video, one in the middle, and one in the ending of the video. No I'm not complaining at all about this. Please keep the product coming, all your hard work is greatly appreciated
ReplyDeletehey Linkara:
ReplyDeleteDo you know which ad site does blip uses? I want to know because I block websites Using a Host file on my computer.
Why don't you get a real job? Also Blip didn't always have video ads so quit whining. Never going to watch your videos again.
ReplyDelete"Why don't you get a real job? Also Blip didn't always have video ads so quit whining. Never going to watch your videos again."
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you get a real argument? I get paid money through the ad revenue generated on videos and I have to pay taxes on that money. Now quit whining about how you'll never watch my videos again, since someone like you obviously isn't necessary around here, anyway.
Okay, gotta be that guy who raises his hand and admits he does use ad-blocker. Though it has been disable for blip as I'm in Australia ans thus out of region for these ads and I do want to support you guys, hell you got me into comics in the first place. Question though, in Aus we don't get the full ad we get a snippet of it and then it cuts off, does that count as a view? I'm a full time student and want to help but can't afford a lot due to living expenses
ReplyDeleteOkay, I just let the same ad play over & over again 100 times on several of your videos (possibly more than 100) so you could make back some lost revenue.
ReplyDeleteMay Disney Hawaii bleed itself dry.
A nice guy on TGWTG told me how I could enable all blip ads while only blocking the annoying flash banners on the site.
@Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's worse: That you sound like Superboy-Prime, or that you don't have the guts to use an actual (nick)name.
That being said, I always suspected that ads are only shown in the US.
ReplyDeleteBecause I like shows I'm watching (and hell, even if I don't like specific video, I still want to thank author for his time) I have done it all. Whitelisting, disabling adblock. I even tried watching tgwtg shows on other, completely vanilla browser.
But it turns out that in Poland we don't have ads on Blip.
One thing that bugs me - why does it still show me that 90 second message when it clearly should know that it hasn't any ads to show me...
(That said, I may donate via PayPal in the future while waiting for next HOPR episode...)
A few thing I want to say.
ReplyDelete1) I hope the other CA people have talked to you about this. Maybe you guys can get together during the next anniversary and make a PSA about it.
2) Would you happen to know which is your shortest video with ads? I'm thinking of just playing it on repeat or something to help you get revenue.
3) Related to the above, have you considered having a "ad video". Basically just have a very short video that people can easily play to help bump up your revenue. It gives us an easy way to support you which we should just play alot in the background and we don't need to donate to paypal if you want to avoid it.
4) Good luck to you. For a long time the only reason I bother to go to CA is for your content. Hope you can keep going and doing what you love for a long time.
Sorry, adblock has to stay on, here; my internet's already spotty, and I have terrible luck with it crashing when videos are involved. That, and I just can't be bothered to deal with ads, not with my low stress tolerance. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to make any other transactions for your show, either, so I'll sadly have to be a ghost to you. I like your show, and wish I could support you in any way I can, but right now, that's not possible for me.
ReplyDeleteHey Linkara,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that the add blockers are hurting your business so much. I personally have never used them. As I lived in France and now in Germany I did not always got to see the adds, specially the mid rolls. It would be cool I someday blip would solve this. Anyhow, I really enjoy all of your shows and I respect a lot the fact that you decided to make of this your main Job, I guess it takes a lot of courage to take such an unconventional career.
@Natasha Simms
ReplyDelete"I'm sorry Linkara but many of Blip's ad are very offensive and honestly I would rather sit through 90 seconds of nothing instead of 30 seconds of something that will be deliberately designed to be awful. If Blip had a system more like Hulu to pick and choose the things the ads are about or at least to have votes for ads that shouldn't be shown again or something to make it know that someone really hates an ad, I would be more willing to turn off my Adblock. Avoiding nasty ads is part of why I stopped watching cable tv in the first place, I'm not going to start doing it online."
Valid reason. If it wasn't for the fact you can just turn down sound and click on another page.
Linkara, I watch your videos all the time so you can get the add revenue and all that whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteBut I also use Real Downloader to download your videos so I can have a hard copy of them on my hard drive (FYI as of now, counting your extra vids, riff, let's plays, Longbox of the damned, and crossovers, it's up to 88.2 Gig!)
Is that a bad thing? I mean I clearly do have to watch the vids to download them anyway, this is just so I can have a hard copy in general.
OK got it fixed, apparently different internet connections can block out ads. wierd, anyway keep up the great work and looking forward to the DVD.
ReplyDeleteLewis,
ReplyDeleteI've used adblock since it was first available as a firefox extension, and ill continue to use it as long as possible
I've known for a long time that blocking the ads blocks your revenue from those ads, and that those ads are the main source of revenue
But I've always blocked your ads since the beginning so I've never contributed to your revenue and you are still successful without it
I dont see any reason to change that
You should consider yourself lucky and stop taking what you have for granted, I'm currently unemployed (and not on unemployment) and will need to get some soul-crushing job to support myself soon
You might not be making as much money as you could be because of people like me, but at least you get to make a living by doing what you love and having fun while doing it
I've never understood people like Mr. "Why don't you get a real job?" What constitutes a 'real' job? 9-5 drudgery and toil? Getting a physical paycheck?
ReplyDeleteWhat, you think he gets paid in Monopoly money?
Anon, here's how it works.
1. Linkara creates the videos and posts them for our amusement. That means writing, shooting, and editing-a process that, while I'm sure he's streamlined after five years, can most likely be time consuming.
2. He gets revenue from the ads. Yeah, some of them are dumb, but name an ad on TV that's not.
3. Every year, the IRS takes some of that money, meaning he most likely has both a 1040 and a W-2. Just like if he was working at a "real" job.
So, therefore, he's doing something he loves to do and getting paid for it. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.
And really, 1:30 of ads for an average 20 minute show is peanuts compared to TV.
Linkara, you've got my support, and if I wasn't flat broke(and had my own Paypal) I'd donate to you.
"Okay, gotta be that guy who raises his hand and admits he does use ad-blocker. Though it has been disable for blip as I'm in Australia ans thus out of region for these ads and I do want to support you guys, hell you got me into comics in the first place. Question though, in Aus we don't get the full ad we get a snippet of it and then it cuts off, does that count as a view? I'm a full time student and want to help but can't afford a lot due to living expenses"
ReplyDeleteSorry to say I don't know. But the fact that you're trying to let the ad play is appreciated, regardless. ^_^
"Is that a bad thing? I mean I clearly do have to watch the vids to download them anyway, this is just so I can have a hard copy in general."
ReplyDeleteWell, the only problem is then I don't get residuals from you watching old episodes, buuut on the other hand, if it was legal to sell my episodes on DVD, that'd be the case, too, so I'm not going to complain.
Besides, I've got downloaded copies of AVGN episodes, so I'd kind of be a hypocrite if I did complain. XD
"3. Every year, the IRS takes some of that money, meaning he most likely has both a 1040 and a W-2. Just like if he was working at a "real" job."
ReplyDeleteOh, it's even more fun thatn that.
I don't have a W-2, since Blip doesn't withhold any of the earnings for tax purposes. And because technically I'm an independent contractor, that means I have to pay QUARTERLY taxes based on my estimated income. It's fine if it's too high or too low, it's just it affects what happens in April when I file. Now the good news is that if I don't pay the quarterly EVERY time, it's not a big deal, since the penalty tends to be pretty low ($60 to $100 in the past), but I DO need to pay some of them, or else the amount I end up actually owing in April is far too much.
"I don't have a W-2, since Blip doesn't withhold any of the earnings for tax purposes. And because technically I'm an independent contractor, that means I have to pay QUARTERLY taxes based on my estimated income. It's fine if it's too high or too low, it's just it affects what happens in April when I file. Now the good news is that if I don't pay the quarterly EVERY time, it's not a big deal, since the penalty tends to be pretty low ($60 to $100 in the past), but I DO need to pay some of them, or else the amount I end up actually owing in April is far too much."
ReplyDeleteAhh, gotcha. Boy, they get ya at every turn, don't they?
I have to say i understand your reasons Linkara and after seeing your video i have "white listed" your site and will let the adds run from now on.
ReplyDeleteI just want so say one thing though: the 30 seconds are ok but if you have any contact to the people making these adds tell them that more would be really annoying.
I live in a small village in germany and our internet connection here isnt the best (downloading things with 200 kb/s at best) and on other sites i have the problem that the add is too long and keeps buffering which is really annoying.
I really have to say i like your show a lot and i am grateful to you since without your "history of power rangers" i would have never heard of the sentai gokaiger which is one of my favorite series i have ever watched.
I appreciate that you talk to your fans and tell us about the adds and how your financial life depends on us letting them play. Just if possible don´t make them longer than they are now.
Oh and one question: Will it be possibl somehow to buy your dvd and one of the t-shirts and ship them together? Cause import to germany especially to where i live is a pain -.-
PS: If i made any mistakes im sorry my english isn´t the best XD
"I appreciate that you talk to your fans and tell us about the adds and how your financial life depends on us letting them play. Just if possible don´t make them longer than they are now.
ReplyDeleteOh and one question: Will it be possibl somehow to buy your dvd and one of the t-shirts and ship them together? Cause import to germany especially to where i live is a pain -.-"
Unfortunately the DVDs and the shirts will be handled by two different companies, but I'm going to look into a downloadable option for the DVD for international shipping issues.
Do you actually lose possible revenue from blocked ads or do you just not gain any? If it's the later I have no problem replaying videos with ad block off. The only reason I use ad block (for this site at least) is that I like to watch NEW videos uninterrupted, but after I've seen them once I don't mind interruptions during rewatches. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to put up with the ads.
ReplyDeleteLove the show. It actually got me back into comics by pointing out that even though there are atrocious stories out there, there are some really good ones that are worth the time. Because of that I spent the better part of the morning today trying to whitelist blip so the ads will play on my computer. That did not work out and I keep getting that annoying 90 second message. Guess that means I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out :P
ReplyDelete"Unfortunately the DVDs and the shirts will be handled by two different companies, but I'm going to look into a downloadable option for the DVD for international shipping issues."
ReplyDeleteWould take me forever to download it but it would be waaaaaay better than paying almost half the price for shipping alone (meaning taxes for import we have to pay). I really would love it if it is possible ^^
From the information I have, you get a minimum of $2,000 per video ( first 30 days ) from ads.
ReplyDeleteIf you wish to make more money, you can do the "old fashion" product placements ... "This episode is brought to you by Company X, who makes Product X - Product X, use it today ! "
That being said, you can also increase your income by having your own web site. Quite a bit of money can be had from secondary advertising from the site, and it's not that hard to set one up. If you need an idea of an easy setup, look at Noah Antwiler's site.
About selling "things". Branding can be very big business, however if you wish to do this, you have to market your stuff to the general public, not just your fans.
Creating a custom PayPal store ( easy to do ) with your own logos and art would be the best way to go. ( Paying commissions for fan art would boost your selection of stuff ).
Sadly this train will be coming to and end sooner or later. From the information I have, the traffic to TGWTG has been falling quite a bit in the last year - I just hope you can establish yourself as an independent producer, in case something happens.
Keep doing what you love, and never give up hope !
i don't have ad-block but get that message a lot and there are no ads on my region.
ReplyDeleteWhen I sit through a 4 minute ad (no joke) to watch a 10 minute video (Phelous to use an example) then have to deal with ad boxes poppuing up every 10-20 seconds..
ReplyDeleteThere's a limit, and Blip has crossed it for sure..
The pre-roll and maybe an ad in the middle, sure, but not when it's NON STOP which Blip is doing..
I tried disabling adblock, but I was still seeing the 90 seconds message. Then I realized it was probably because I'm in Belgium and there won't be localized ads for there on blip for years.
ReplyDeleteI'll buy a shirt and the Harvey Finevoice album then.
I would buy some of what you are selling, but I don't want put a credit card number in the internet to buy something
ReplyDeleteI always let the advertisements play when i watch videos online. mainly because ad blockers are too much of a hassle to bother with. i never really thought about that being the way you gain money until this subject came up. and it actually made me glad that this came up. since i now know i am supporting you making great videos for bits of my time in advertisement. so yeah, keep making Great Videos and i will be buying your DVD. Question, Will the AT4W DVD be in limited supply? and will there be DVD Copies with your Autograph on them? (i Like Buying those) and lastly, Keep Being Awesome
ReplyDeleteI can't see the advertisement, because I live in Sweden, but I donated some money to you.
ReplyDelete/Sebastian
I am leaving you a comment here, Lewis, as I know that you read every single comment you get on here, to let you know that I appreciate all of the hard work you have put into the videos over the years. I know this line of work can be pretty thankless and not nearly as glamorous as some people think it might be from the outside looking in, so just wanted to give you that.
ReplyDeleteI will say to those who use adblock pro on firefox, updating the filter lists in the applications menu while simultaneously allowing non-intrusive advertising should allow the ads on blip to run. Barring that, you can always whitelist on that application as well.
Thank you again for your time and effort Lewis, and thank you for the donation button. I've sent some dinero your way (not that you're asking for it, but hey you've earned it for making me laugh so many times over the years) and wish you all the best for as long as this gravy train keeps chugging along.
Not much to say here, so I'll keep it to the point. Great show Linkara, keep it up as long as your able and I'll always keep the ads playing.
ReplyDeleteI hope there's be an international shipping option as well as a download, as I'm one of these old-fashioned people who like having the actual physical thing if possible :)
ReplyDeleteFor the record, my pre-ordered To Boldly Flee DVD arrived here in New Zealand in good time (less than a month after the USA), so not all orders got messed up.
Thanks for bringing the advertising issue to the fore, both because of people who didn't realise the effect of adblockers, and to challenge those who did but still use it. I know this is created some heated debate, but I think its a discussion that needed to happen.
Lewis, just want to leave a warning here regarding the donation button: Whatever you get from it will most likely be a one-time major influx that will quickly degrade into pocket change.
ReplyDeleteWait a few months running it before incorporating it into any budgeting :)
"Lewis, just want to leave a warning here regarding the donation button: Whatever you get from it will most likely be a one-time major influx that will quickly degrade into pocket change.
ReplyDeleteWait a few months running it before incorporating it into any budgeting :)"
Don't intend to incorporate it into any budgeting. ^_^ As I said, the button is there because people have been asking for it. XD
"Do you actually lose possible revenue from blocked ads or do you just not gain any? If it's the later I have no problem replaying videos with ad block off. The only reason I use ad block (for this site at least) is that I like to watch NEW videos uninterrupted, but after I've seen them once I don't mind interruptions during rewatches. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to put up with the ads."
ReplyDeleteBasically any time an ad is shown I get revenue from it - it's why I'm not enthusiastic about putting the backlog up on youtube, either - residuals from past episodes.
"Because of that I spent the better part of the morning today trying to whitelist blip so the ads will play on my computer. That did not work out and I keep getting that annoying 90 second message. Guess that means I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out :P"
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you tried and I appreciate that, anyway. ^_^
"I would buy some of what you are selling, but I don't want put a credit card number in the internet to buy something"
ReplyDeleteWell, the good news then is that there will be a paypal option for the DVD or if you attend a convention I'm at, you should be able to buy something there. ^_^
"Question, Will the AT4W DVD be in limited supply? and will there be DVD Copies with your Autograph on them? (i Like Buying those) and lastly, Keep Being Awesome"
ReplyDeleteThe DVD will be published-on-demand, so while supply will be infinite, there won't be an autograph option unless you bring it to me in person or buy it from me at a convention.