Google Ads on ABCNews?
I was browsing the ABC News website and I saw a standard Google Ads placement at the very top of their page. The ad space is new to me and I visit the ABCNews website fairly regularly.
Does anyone else feel like this somewhat cheapens the ABCNews website? Is ABCNews really so desperate for money that the few hundred dollars that Google AdSense block brings is absolutely necessary? I can’t imagine they’re getting too many clicks.
Obviously it’s reasonable for them to monetize their website, but at which point is it being over monetized? I don’t have a problem with advertisements but for some reason AdSense has always felt like a way to monetize blogs and provide users with related content. I was reading a story about a kidnapping and I got a ads about Panda Platinum software and some affiliate link to eBay. Worthwhile? No.
Their web designers could have done a much better job of blending the AdSense into the ABCNews design. It sticks out like a sore thumb while the rest of the site actually looks very nice (in my opinion).
Agree? Disagree? Let me know.
2 responses so far ↓
16 Jan 2007 at 2:05 pm
Ben I agree that it makes it look cheap. They could have at least gone with google image ads.
It probably generates a thousand or so bucks a day for them. maybe more. they have a ton of traffic.
16 Jan 2007 at 2:49 pm
Yes, I’m sure this brings them thousands per day. For ABCNews, that’s still small dough. But it pays for a handful of fulltime staff and just a few people can make a big difference in keeping a site fresh.
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