Anybody follow VeloNews? >25% of their web page is covered by ads.

[pzung]

Anybody follow VeloNews? A huge portion of their web page is covered by ads (I say at least 25%). Banners at the top, side, bottom. Ads gone a little wacko! What a turn off!!!

http://velonews.competitor.com/

[PJN]

The website is FREE. Companies need to make money to be viable. Advertising helps. If you don't like the ads then don't look at it.

[Louis]

Same thing for Outside magazine. They usually have pretty good articles, but a huge percentage of the page area is ads. I actually went through one edition, estimated the % and posted something about it here. Here are the page stats for area covered by ads or "gear info" sections:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=46271&stc=1

[dancinkozmo]

...I'm sure the staff at VN has the integrity to not allow advertisers to influence their product reviews :)

[nova]

... yeah, I mean, every publisher writes articles on three different types of saddles by the same manufacture...journalistic integrity?

A lot of talk on the velonews forum has shown that the everyone has been fired in the last couple years, a shell of what it was even a few years ago.

[pzung]

Same thing for Outside magazine. They usually have pretty good articles, but a huge percentage of the page area is ads. I actually went through one edition, estimated the % and posted something about it here. Here are the page stats for area covered by ads or "gear info" sections:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=46271&stc=1

Louis. That's table is pretty intense! Never seen something analyzed this way.

[Louis]

Louis. That's table is pretty intense! Never seen something analyzed this way.

I'm an engineer, and engineers love to crunch data...

[rounder]

Same thing for Outside magazine. They usually have pretty good articles, but a huge percentage of the page area is ads. I actually went through one edition, estimated the % and posted something about it here. Here are the page stats for area covered by ads or "gear info" sections:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=46271&stc=1

Good analysis. I wonder how the VN analysis compares against the average Sunday newspaper...I bet they are close or that the paper is even more so. I know VN and the Sunday news have to advertise to stay in biz, but i usually just skip past the ads and read the stories. I like both VN and the news.

[picstloup]

Anybody follow VeloNews? A huge portion of their web page is covered by ads (I say at least 25%). Banners at the top, side, bottom. Ads gone a little wacko! What a turn off!!!

http://velonews.competitor.com/

I use AD Block for safari and firefox...et voila, no more ads...

[Karin Kirk]

I use AD Block for safari and firefox...et voila, no more ads...
Yes! Ad Block is amazing. And free!

[Peter P.]

In case some of you aren't aware, magazines get the VAST MAJORITY of their revenue from advertising, not magazine sales/subscriptions.

While yes. I do find most web advertising annoying, I merely ignore most of it and go about my reading.

But some advertising is useful. Without it, we wouldn't be made aware of some new, and possibly desirable products.

If it weren't for the Mavic clothing ad I spotted recently on the VeloNews web site, I would never have become aware of and subsequently purchased, their new Vision H20 vest.

Companies have to make a living, you know. Maybe even Serotta should consider selling advertising space on their web site. After all, they're currently in a financially tough spot and you WOULD like them to survive, no?

[KonaSS]

This is similar to other forms of media, network TV has 16-20 (or 25%-33%) minutes of commericals per hour, depending on time of day.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Same thing for Outside magazine. They usually have pretty good articles, but a huge percentage of the page area is ads. I actually went through one edition, estimated the % and posted something about it here. Here are the page stats for area covered by ads or "gear info" sections:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=46271&stc=1

In many consumer magazines the "editorial" space is also for sale. They don't want you to know it, but it's a common practice. Buy an ad, get a mention--a positive one--in the "wish list" pages or the formal product reviews.

I would wager that almost any gear review in OUTSIDE is influenced in this way. Just look at what's reviewed, then look through the rest of the mag. Often--TOO often--you will see a correlation between the items reviewed and the larger ads i the rest of the mag. ROAD seems to have a fairly strong match. Look at their bike reviews, then at the full page bike ads throughout the rest of the magazine.

Any mag you see on the shelves that's heavily oriented with physical products likely does the same. The owners want to make money off of every square inch of published space, and increasingly "editorial integrity" means little--though they react with huge amounts of huffing and puffing if called on it publicly.

I agree that VeloNews has changed a lot. Competitor Group has done exactly what my former newspaper employer did. They are cutting overhead--and increasing profits--by cutting full time employees, particularly the senior, higher paid ones, and replacing them with kids straight out of school who will work for less. That or switching to "contractors" for whom they don't have to provide benefits. Wilcockson is suddenly no longer an editor with benefits and a good salary. He's a contractor columnist who's working on a small "per story" basis.

Or, even further, they use stuff from bloggers who will work for free just for the "honor" of having their stuff in the magazine or on the web site. It's even worse with photos. With modern equipment everybody is suddenly a "photojournalist" . . . the commercial value of editorial photography has almost disappeared. There's a big difference between a photo and a GOOD photo. Same goes for text content. But the publishers don't care. They are just filling space between ads.

BBD

[Elefantino]

I also use ad blockers on both Firefox and Chrome.

However, I also work for a newspaper with an ad-laden website.

Therefore, in the interest of self-preservation, I ask you all this favor. If you have a favorite newspaper or magazine website, and if you have both home and work computers, please go to that website at least once per day on each computer. Even if you don't like the content, just click once each time. That way we get two unique visitors. (If you don't have an office computer, ask to use the neighbor's. They'll understand.) Then we can tell our advertisers, "Look! We're getting more unique visitors!" and they'll pay us more (theoretically), allowing us to maintain our money-sucking and profit-dwindling print operations read mostly by people who are a dying breed, literally.

The job you save may belong to someone you know.

PS: To avoid the appearance of cheap self-promotion, I purposely did not hyperlink to our website, which rhymes with "racks on bill got bomb." :D

[ultraman6970]

Specialized magazines need visitors, thats the way they get money now a days.

[oldpotatoe]

Anybody follow VeloNews? A huge portion of their web page is covered by ads (I say at least 25%). Banners at the top, side, bottom. Ads gone a little wacko! What a turn off!!!

http://velonews.competitor.com/

http://www.cyclingnews.com

As is just about every other free website. Gotta pay the bills somehow.

[peanutgallery]

Pez and Cyclingnews is just as bad IMHO. they have to make a buck, though

[crownjewelwl]

which is owned by private equity...

they make most of their cheese from running marathons and triathlons

the magazine (and website) seem like an afterthought...

[xjoex]

VeloNews is a great mag these days. They actually cover racing which a lot of mags have stopped doing, but they also have two sharp mechanics doing articles; there is Zinn and now Nick Legan, former pro tour mechanic.

I use ad block plus and never noticed the ads.

-Joe

[nm87710]

same thing for outside magazine. They usually have pretty good articles, but a huge percentage of the page area is ads. I actually went through one edition, estimated the % and posted something about it here. Here are the page stats for area covered by ads or "gear info" sections:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=46271&stc=1

+1

[Gummee]

VeloNews is a great mag these days. They actually cover racing which a lot of mags have stopped doing, but they also have two sharp mechanics doing articles; there is Zinn and now Nick Legan, former pro tour mechanic.

I use ad block plus and never noticed the ads.

-JoeYou talking about the print or the online Velo(News)? Print has gone more towards the Bicycling way of making a magazine. Fluff about bicycles and interviews. I'm waiting for the '12 weeks to your best century EVAR!' articles in Velo. :crap:

Online has to keep up with Cyclingnews, Pez, et al. So they at least have race coverage.

There's cyclingfans and cyclingtorrents.nl if you wanna watch full races online. Usually the day they're raced! THAT'S where I go. Screw highlights in print! I wanna see it unfold.

The days of us all keeping up with racing via Velo News (print) are long gone. :nod 'Course those were the days that Wild World of Sports had an hour update on Le Tour every Sunday too. ...and we were ecstatic to get THAT on the teevee!

M

[54ny77]

velonews actually has news? didn't know that.

[bart998]

why is Velonews not on Facebook? That's where I get almost everything...

[Mark McM]

I would wager that almost any gear review in OUTSIDE is influenced in this way. Just look at what's reviewed, then look through the rest of the mag. Often--TOO often--you will see a correlation between the items reviewed and the larger ads i the rest of the mag. ROAD seems to have a fairly strong match. Look at their bike reviews, then at the full page bike ads throughout the rest of the magazine.

I think you'll find this kind of bias practically by necessity in any organization that does product reviews. Most organizations that do product reviews couldn't possible afford to buy all the products that they review, so they rely on the manufacturers and/or vendors to donate or loan them products. How long do you think a manufacturer/vendor would continue to offer products to the reviewers if their products get panned? While they may not explicitly say it, the reviewers are also aware that their source of products (the necessary raw material for their writing) would dry up (and so would their livelihood) if they gave too many bad reviews.

As readers, we like to think that we are the 'customer' of a magazine (print or web based), and review articles are the 'product' being delivered to us by the publisher. But as mentioned previously, even in print journalism most of the revenue comes from advertisers. Which means that the reality in most cases is that the 'customer' is actually the advertisers, and the readers are the 'product' being delivered to them.

[laupsi]

try "Pro Cycling". A British publication and in MHO a much better read and glossy!

[Jaq]

I don't have it installed atm, but Ad Blocker works fairly well, though some sites will up the ante by disabling Ad Blocker scripts. Disabling your disabler, as it were.

[pdmtong]

Louis. That's table is pretty intense! Never seen something analyzed this way.

web analytics tools provide waaaaay more info than that. one of the new foundations for marketing

[William]

I think you'll find this kind of bias practically by necessity in any organization that does product reviews. Most organizations that do product reviews couldn't possible afford to buy all the products that they review, so they rely on the manufacturers and/or vendors to donate or loan them products. How long do you think a manufacturer/vendor would continue to offer products to the reviewers if their products get panned? While they may not explicitly say it, the reviewers are also aware that their source of products (the necessary raw material for their writing) would dry up (and so would their livelihood) if they gave too many bad reviews.

As readers, we like to think that we are the 'customer' of a magazine (print or web based), and review articles are the 'product' being delivered to us by the publisher. But as mentioned previously, even in print journalism most of the revenue comes from advertisers. Which means that the reality in most cases is that the 'customer' is actually the advertisers, and the readers are the 'product' being delivered to them.

The original Road Bike Action did this back in the early 90's It was refreshing to read reviews where they actually panned (and gave reasons why and suggestions to improve) stuff they didn't like. Unfortunately it didn't last, but it was a good read while it was around. I think it may have been revived recently but I haven't read it so I don't know if it's run the same way.




William