New ad network 2025 - provide feedback here

[shaunj66]

We have switched to a new ad network. Please use this thread to report any browsing issues specifically caused by ads on GBAtemp.

Most ads include a "Report Ad" button so please use it to report any issues with ad content. There's no need to post about it on the forums, as we'll just direct you to that button.

Also, please keep in mind that these ads arent there just for the fun of it. We need revenue to keep servers going, to allow some staff to get (small) payments to keep the site alive, and giveaways, contests etc.

 

[ZeroT21]

I'm using uBlock Origin for both security reasons and seamless browsing. I honestly don't trust ads or their sources, not that I dislike supporting the site

 

[Sir Tortoise]

More transparency about how bad the situation is would be helpful. Make it a goal with a fun progress bar, we are $X behind our server costs right now. Gamers love that stuff.

Thing is, ads are a race to the bottom. Pumping more intrusive ads in is only profitable until everyone else is doing it, so even if this helps right now it won't forever.

I have fully fallen for the rhetoric about how if we want a better Internet then we need to be willing to directly contribute within our means, to avoid the need for this race to the bottom. I've used this site for years and would definitely consider donating.
But I'm hesitant to do that if for all I know it'll make no difference, either not touching the sides or the site becoming self-destructive with these new ads anyway.

or you can delete the politics forum, I'd subscribe for that

 

[Thulinma]

Just writing in to mention that the fact ads are on the website at all is the reason I've never become a patron, despite being a continuous user of the site for nearly 20 years.
I have my browser set to not store cookies, and usually don't bother logging in unless I'm going to reply to something (which is pretty rare) - which means that becoming a patron would net me exactly zero benefits, as I'd still be seeing ads all the time (at least theoretically, since obviously I block all ads on the entire internet to stay sane).

Should gbatemp go ad-less, I'd actually become a patron in support of that change.

I know from experience that ad-based revenue is (and always has been) practically nothing - especially compared to the inconvenience it causes to users. Almost any other revenue model will outperform it.

 

[HtheB]

Why is the frontpage news made with ChatGPT...?

 

[linuxares]

Should gbatemp go ad-less, I'd actually become a patron in support of that change.

sadly this is a miniority of people think that. They want everything free so ads are the only way.

 

[Costello]

Why is the frontpage news made with ChatGPT...?

already answered and addressed earlier in this thread but, here I go again: after spending several hours coding and fixing stuff around the site today (see my various posts of the day in this forum) all I could come up with was a big list of bullet points, and that wasn't very readable, so I got AI to rewrite it more nicely. I don't think it came out too bad

now that that's answered, can we please stay on the topic of ads & the new ad network.

(If anyone wants to continue talking about AI news lets have a separate thread maybe?)

Just writing in to mention that the fact ads are on the website at all is the reason I've never become a patron, despite being a continuous user of the site for nearly 20 years.
I have my browser set to not store cookies, and usually don't bother logging in unless I'm going to reply to something (which is pretty rare) - which means that becoming a patron would net me exactly zero benefits, as I'd still be seeing ads all the time (at least theoretically, since obviously I block all ads on the entire internet to stay sane).

Should gbatemp go ad-less, I'd actually become a patron in support of that change.

I know from experience that ad-based revenue is (and always has been) practically nothing - especially compared to the inconvenience it causes to users. Almost any other revenue model will outperform it.

I would love it if we could go ad free but we don't have enough patrons for that.
Now that being said, I honestly understand people who use adblockers.
I do too, and I whitelist the sites I really support. I whitelisted GBAtemp so that I can see for myself sometimes how bad the ads can be, and complain to our ad networks about it.

We really aren't the only ones in this sinking ship, a lot of independent sites have been suffering from this for ages. I've seen countless sites close, most of them because they tried transitioning to a subscription system / paywall, and there weren't enough people willing to pay. We definitely aren't going to do that so we're doing a mix of both with the Patron system plus ads.

 

[Sir Tortoise]

sadly this is a miniority of people think that. They want everything free so ads are the only way.

Do we have any numbers on the relative amounts, ads vs supporters? It's a minority, sure, but vastly more profitable per-person when ads pay so little that they are failing to keep up with the majority. I'd say it's worth leaning more on growing that minority than relying on ad networks whose business model revolves around paying less and less. If people know what's going on, mentalities can change.

 

[VinsCool]

sadly this is a miniority of people think that. They want everything free so ads are the only way.

I wonder if a Wikipedia approach could be viable, via donation periods to cover costs for as long as possible, keeping everything ad free in the process.

I know being a Patron is pretty much the same idea, but that could open the possibility to include guests who don't have an account to donate if they feel like it, and it wouldn't be enforced to access all the site features.

I would certainly be down to give in a bit if needed, even if right now money is tight for me right now, and knowing that my paypal account has become unusable due to something that fucked up with an automatic Patreon payment I was unable to afford 2 years ago lol

 

[linuxares]

Do we have any numbers on the relative amounts, ads vs supporters? It's a minority, sure, but vastly more profitable per-person when ads pay so little that they are failing to keep up with the majority. I'd say it's worth leaning more on growing that minority than relying on ad networks whose business model revolves around paying less and less. If people know what's going on, mentalities can change.

I wish I could see those numbers. I can't.

I wonder if a Wikipedia approach could be viable, via donation periods to cover costs for as long as possible, keeping everything ad free in the process.

I know being a Patron is pretty much the same idea, but that could open the possibility to include guests who don't have an account to donate if they feel like it, and it wouldn't be enforced to access all the site features.

I would certainly be down to give in a bit if needed, even if right now money is tight for me right now, and knowing that my paypal account has become unusable due to something that fucked up with an automatic Patreon payment I was unable to afford 2 years ago lol

Hmmm... well Costy might read this :3

 

[Sono]

Edit: to reply on-topic to this thread (lol), I did not get any of these spicy ad networks (checked page source, they don't even get sent to me), so either it has been removed, or they are not sent to my region. Do we have a list of people who got the scummy ad loaders? It could be useful to tally up their region (behind the scenes, aggregated, so to not expose anyone), to see if we find a pattern.

---

I read page 2 of this thread, and I've got an idea, by creating an amalgam of some of the others' ideas presented there.

Why not have a page (or add a subsection into an existing page), where there is a list of affiliates compiled, so it's easier for us to search? I'm 100% sure that I have seen a few affiliate links across various front-page articles, so why not compile those (especially permanent ones!) into a dedicated page, so users can buy their stuff through that?
Hell, if affiliate links were prevelant enough, you could invest some man power into making a script that dynamically generates the content on that page for expiring referral links (like temporary promo codes, etc.).
This would not even be a compromise, because I bet some users would absoultely look out for these referral links (especially games related, and/or Amazon links, and such), and even if there is no discount to the user, they would still use it (especially due to the zero friction discoverability, idk, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click it, for example), and you'd still get more from one-time affiliate kickback than whatever the ads would pay over many months for a single user with a Google-approved(tm) Chrome browser configuration (zero privacy, all telemetry, all ads).

Also, I'm very confident that (non-video) ads pay piss-all, maybe so poorly, that the 2$ tier (when paid in cash, not XP) could include ad-free access?
Feels like I should bring this one up in a different thread (I'm highly certain I have found it once by accident, but can't find it now, I'd appreciate if someone could link it to me), so I'm leaving out some detail here on my ideas about this one.

I know that there are diverse income options already for the site, but maybe an opt-in survey of some sorts could be done to grasp what you're dealing with, so you could ask the community what they need and/or can do within their power, so you could focus more on tuning existing options to be better in terms of price paid and value provided.
Again, there is probably a better thread to discuss this at, I'll cut it short here.

But yeah, increasing ads, while they are at their peak worst (both in terms of psychological detrement, and immense resource usage, and data privacy concerns), and at their payout worst, increasing them is a... I can't find a good word for this, but rather "ballsy" move. To use an euphamism, I don't think that hitting the head with the hammer any harder will do any good, especially if you're dealing with a screw.
Definitely need to re-think the income options in some way, this is unsustainable, in my opinion.

 

[Noctosphere]

After having really bad experience with moderation, I decided to just cancel my patreon membership, after years of supporting you guys. I really tried to have this matter solved, but since I never got any reply from you up there, and since I'm just a random nobody whose opinion didn't matter that much, I'll just watch this site burn just like it should. If GBAtemp is just slowly but surely becoming yet another reddit with moderators who ban/censor whatever they don't like, and If your only solution is to get even more ads, then I guess my only choice will be to permanently leave GBAtemp if it's just gonna get even more annoying than it already is. Sorry, but not sorry.

 

[Nephiel]

I'm using uBlock Origin for both security reasons and seamless browsing. I honestly don't trust ads or their sources, not that I dislike supporting the site

Ads exist to seek profit by extracting value from people's attention, time, and data. And the race to the bottom has only made them extremely hostile and invasive.
The line between ads and malware is so blurry there might as well be no line at all. "Ad Blockers Are Everywhere" because people need them. At this point, they are basic self defense. Of course adnets are trying to get people to stop blocking them. And of course we shouldn't.

As a GBAtemp user for over 20 years, I am sad to see the economic struggles coming to this, but the reality is that an ad-driven model is unsustainable, and trying to use such a model to sustain another platform is a fool's errand.

Patron perks do not pique my interest, but I might consider it (or donations) if the status and goals were known. Where are we at now? How much is left to cover this month/year? How many patrons do we have this month, and how many are needed to break even? That sort of thing.

I wish I had more useful insight or helpful alternatives to propose. Hell, I would buy GBAtemp merch like a T-shirt or a mug if it helped.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I will now speak my mind on the matter at hand. GBAtemp guys, please consider my words very carefully.

I have been a GBAtemp user ever since I started my Rock Band Customs Project back in 2019, shortly after the Wii Shop closed down and I wanted to find a way to preserve and install the old DLC for the Rock Band titles. I have been using an ad-blocker of some type ever since, and have enjoyed an ad-free experience on GBAtemp. Does that mean, then, that I hate ads? On the contrary; ads themselves do not bother me. In fact, it's one way of discovering a new product or service I had not considered before.

I think a reason that ad blockers continue to persist is not really to screw the sites relying on ad revenue, but to block the aggressive ways that ads are featured. This is why I left XDA Developers - their message on "Please disable your ad-blocker" and their sister sites refusing to work unless you do so became annoying and in your face. Also, ad revenue alone is not going to solve your problem, but actually make it worse. Already, too many sites are relying on ads served by Google and Amazon, and the sad reality is that these entities get more money from you seeing the ads on a site than the site creators themselves, or even the people who made the ads. Also, their ad services are deceptive - in fact, the U.S. government has investigated both Google and Amazon for monopolizing the ad market, and if ever found guilty, they may be forced to sell their ad divisions.

I do not want to have to leave GBAtemp. I like it a lot here. However, if you guys are going to be more "in your face" about ads than before, I will have to leave. I personally wouldn't mind seeing ads from companies that you guys would definitely support, i.e. sponsorships from specific companies instead of ad revenue from just any company in the world, even those against the beliefs and principles of GBAtemp. If that is a direction that you guys decide to take, then I will stay, and I might even make an exception in my ad blocker for this site.

I fully understand the article you posted on this, however I do not 100% agree with your resolutions. Please reconsider what you are doing.

 

[VinsCool]

Something like how openmpt was handled could be a fun model to experiment for the server costs:

They are funded until 2032, and this is a much smaller community!

 

[Thulinma]

Something like how openmpt was handled could be a fun model to experiment for the server costs. They are funded until 2032, and this is a much smaller community!

To be fair, small communities take practically no money to keep running. I maintain a couple dozen and it's literally some cents per month.

That said - I 100% agree with some of the above posts suggesting that transparency will help. If I know my small contribution will have a serious impact I'll be more likely to support (I might even ignore the fact there are currently ads if I know my contribution actually keeps the site going - it's one of my favorite sources of gaming news!).
It might make sense to list a rough percentage of current funding coverage vs minimum running costs, and also vs "in this one we also do some fun/cool things" running costs.

 

[VinsCool]

To be fair, small communities take practically no money to keep running. I maintain a couple dozen and it's literally some cents per month.

That said - I 100% agree with some of the above posts suggesting that transparency will help. If I know my small contribution will have a serious impact I'll be more likely to support (I might even ignore the fact there are currently ads if I know my contribution actually keeps the site going - it's one of my favorite sources of gaming news!).
It might make sense to list a rough percentage of current funding coverage vs minimum running costs, and also vs "in this one we also do some fun/cool things" running costs.

Not only that but for gamers it would be like an EXP bar being filled up so a few bucks here and there from a few people every few weeks might go a long way, they would ultimately add up.

 

[Sono]

Not only that but for gamers it would be like an EXP bar being filled up so a few bucks here and there from a few people every few weeks might go a long way, they would ultimately add up.

Oh lol, I first misread it. I read it as you said, that we could game-ify donations by filling up an XP bar, and slowly unlocking some low- to no-cost goodies as the donations come in per month

 

[Thulinma]

Oh lol, I first misread it. I read it as you said, that we could game-ify donations by filling up an XP bar, and slowly unlocking some low- to no-cost goodies as the donations come in per month

Honestly, some variant of that is not a bad idea: "we need [amount] donations to keep ads off the site until [date]" would go pretty hard.

 

[VinsCool]

Honestly, some variant of that is not a bad idea: "we need [amount] donations to keep ads off the site until [date]" would go pretty hard.

I would be 100% down for it.
This would be a much better idea compared to adware being borderline malware running in the background collecting user data.

 

[inversalAutoDoc]

Should gbatemp go ad-less, I'd actually become a patron in support of that change.

Listen. I'm also ideologically opposed to advertising on a visceral level. I get where you're coming from. But I think you've got things twisted a bit.

What you are asking for, essentially, is for the site to drop its current primary source of revenue, which it cannot function without, on the chance that enough people like you - with five bucks to spare every month and the desire to support this site if only there weren't those pesky adverts - would step up to produce the funding to take the ad revenue's place.

Don't you see how this is backwards? If they did this and they couldn't drum up the subscriptions, the site would starve in very short order. The only way they'll ever be able to afford getting rid of the ads is if they have that userbase support first.

The other thing is, well, most people who say they'd pay an otherwise nominal subscription for something 'if only they'd just [x]' are being disingenuous. Like, the site doing that wouldn't actually motivate most of them to start paying. You may be being genuine here, but if you are, you're outside the norm. Maybe this entire site is full of people who're outside the norm, to be fair. But a lot of people are driven to the alt gaming scene (i.e., mods and romhacks and fangames and all that stuff we love here) by either being unable or unwilling to part with their money, so I don't know that they're necessarily outside of the norm in that way. Maybe they'd prove me wrong given the chance.

I hate advertising. I think the act in and of itself is bad, crass, distasteful, to say nothing of the data collection, privacy concerns, and malware associated with internet advertising. But I want this site to continue to exist more than I hate advertising.

...still, with all the issues people are having with the current provider, I think the need for a change there is self-evident.