Idea: CF Premium

[1100011CS]

Add a premium option for a monthly/yearly fee to remove ads. I use an ad blocker(as do a lot of people) so they don't bother me but I also know you rely on ads to keep the site free. Having this option gives you the best of both worlds and I bet there are many on here that would be willing to pay for it.
If you decide to disable logins for people with ad blockers without having this option I believe you will lose more traffic(i.e - ad views) than you would gain.

 

[bigdaddykane]

https://iowastate.rivals.com/forum.asp

 

[Stewo]

Add a premium option for a monthly/yearly fee to remove ads. I use an ad blocker(as do a lot of people) so they don't bother me but I also know you rely on ads to keep the site free. Having this option gives you the best of both worlds and I bet there are many on here that would be willing to pay for it.
If you decide to disable logins for people with ad blockers without having this option I believe you will lose more traffic(i.e - ad views) than you would gain.

Is this actually being considered?

 

[isulive2train]

Flip side is when Adam is pitching to new advertisers or re-upping current ones, how can there be an answer to say 25% of the users not seeing the ads? Will this hinder getting/keeping advertisers? Seems like a good idea but gotta look at the sales scenarios for CF crew.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

Is this actually being considered?

ChrisMWilliams

Publisher

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[h=2]Re: The Ads are out of control on CF[/h]

A few things:

1 - Audio ads are not allowed on here. Whenever I see one or you guys report one, we get it taken care of ASAP. Sometimes it takes just a little bit as we have to figure out which vendor it is coming from but getting rid of these ads is a priority on our site.

2 - I get it. Annoying ads suck. But it really is the only way that CF is funded. We are actually contemplating putting a code on CF that won't allow ad block users to log on. I know a bunch of other sports sites who use it. I've never wanted to implement it here but we're looking into it. It only disallows use while on CF. Doesn't affect any other site or what program you have downloaded on your computer.​

 

[Stewo]

Yeah. That'll kill the site. I pay $5 a month for Scout. Won't be paying for CF and the ads are a decent reason why.

 

[alarson]

Add a premium option for a monthly/yearly fee to remove ads. I use an ad blocker(as do a lot of people) so they don't bother me but I also know you rely on ads to keep the site free. Having this option gives you the best of both worlds and I bet there are many on here that would be willing to pay for it.
If you decide to disable logins for people with ad blockers without having this option I believe you will lose more traffic(i.e - ad views) than you would gain.

Add me to the list that would pay a small amount to remove the ads, and i use an adblocker right now because the auto-play of audio and video just got too out of control for me, as much as I want to support a site i get a lot of use from, at some point those ads were using a lot of memory\bandwidth, and on my former laptop (when i made the switch) i noticed improvement in system performance after enabling the blocker.

Installing an 'ad-blocker blocker' would be a mistake as well. And the blocker developer will just find a workaround anyways, as they have with numerous other sites.

 

[ISC]

i would pay a nominal fee for an ad-free CF. I'm one of those people who currently use an ad-blocker as the site is way too busy with all the ads. My thought would be for $2-3/month, disable MOST ads. I'd be ok with some "highly sponsored" ads still appearing (like the Iowa Clinic, NFM, etc) as long as they are non-intrusive (i.e no video or animated gifs) and only a few on each page (rotate them in and out). Also, i HATE the yard barker stuff (it's the main reason i use ad blocker -> to get rid of that stuff)

 

[Wesley]

i would pay a nominal fee for an ad-free CF. I'm one of those people who currently use an ad-blocker as the site is way too busy with all the ads. My thought would be for $2-3/month, disable MOST ads. I'd be ok with some "highly sponsored" ads still appearing (like the Iowa Clinic, NFM, etc) as long as they are non-intrusive (i.e no video or animated gifs) and only a few on each page (rotate them in and out). Also, i HATE the yard barker stuff (it's the main reason i use ad blocker -> to get rid of that stuff)

Man, I love the yardbarker stuff. Some great stories. Golic even made the cut list.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

If you are forcing us to have adds, you need to make sure the ads you use are not intrusive and don't distract from the site.

I know audio ads aren't allowed on CF, but obviously that hasn't stopped them from coming back repeatedly over the past year or two at least.

 

[HGPuck]

As a suggestion for improvement to the original idea, an optional fee for removal of the AdChoices advertisements that is roughly equal to the revenue generated by those ads per average frequent user. Those are the only ads that ever really cause a problem for anyone. Yard Barker is consistent and easy to ignore and the others at the top of the page are controlled by CF so they never have sound etc and are local sponsor businesses.

 

[ChrisMWilliams]

Thanks for the input guys.

I can assure you that there are no plans of making CF a pay site at this time.

In the meanwhile, we will continue to work with vendors to have the ads on our site be as non-intrusive as possible.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any additional ideas. I listen to, appreciate and consider each and every one of them.