Nov
9
Why Nobody is Buying Digg
November 9, 2007 |
There is a post on Digg today about the video ads that are running on the site right now which I think perfectly exemplifies why nobody is buying Digg:
DIGG: Please stop with the $!&@ front page video ads!
Yeah, I know, you need to make money, fine. But it seems like every time I bring Digg up I’m seeing this girl w/ live video…
And this comment threat here says it all:
Ever heard of Ad Block Plus ?
Digg suffers from the same problem as any site that attracts a tech-savvy audience - we know how to turn off ads and most of us don’t feel bad about it. We would neither pay attention nor click on the ads anyway.
For advertisers, tech sites aren’t a good place to be. Weel, there is always hope that Project VRM will be a success. Annoying users is simply bad business for both the advertiser and the content provider. Digg has a loyal audience, but they aren’t above a little revolt either.
Update: Funny coincidence, but Reddit has a similar threat at the top of its homepage right now. Same comments:
Reddit has ads???
cough adblock cough
As usual, though, the discussion on reddit is a bit more in-depth (thought still a bit weird and badly misspelled):
considering no one pays the commentors (you and I) for these comments, some would argue the heart of the site, I will not be exploited. I dont ask for nothing, but I aint taking nothing neither. Thats real intelectual property theft - selling adspace on user generated content. And then you have the nerve to say ‘cool off bro’? Im not having my eyes raped. Not here, not anywhere.
Comments
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Does Digg have any significant mainstream market penetration?
I don’t think so.
If you’re not trying to reach youngish geeks and geek wannabes (not really that big an audience) there’s no reason to advertise on digg.
Erik - fully agree. I think the question for digg and its advertisers is how to reach their _own_ audience without annoying them.
Given how fickle that audience is, I would not want to own digg or advertise on the site either.