Meta: How much does running an adblocker cost MGoBlog?

Submitted by Snake Eyes on November 1st, 2019 at 10:34 AM

I used to whitelist this site, but have decided I'd rather just donate and have a more pleasant viewing experience when I visit.  

Does anyone know what a user that visits the site six times a day (I know, rookie numbers) and reads all of the front page posts would have to donate to compensate for my lack of providing ad revenue?

I don't expect a direct answer from Brian or Seth, but can any of y'all that swim in these waters give a decent estimation?

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CTSgoblue

November 1st, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^

I have a little experience in this space.  Hard to tell how much is CPM vs CPC vs CPA but hypothetically if it's all CPM stuff, you're probably talking a couple bucks/month for a pretty active user like yourself.

Joined: 08/20/2014

MGoPoints: 5362

Sports

November 1st, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^

It sort of depends on exactly what strategies they are using to monetize (AdSense v. Criteo, Taboola, etc.) and whether they're focusing on clicks or impressions. Also depends on the time horizon. Online advertising is a massive business and is super variable. Let's say they're focusing on impressions and they get $5 for every 1000 impressions. If you visit 6x per day and see 7 ads each time, that's 42 impressions per day. On a monthly basis, that is equivalent to 1,281 impressions, which would equate to roughly $6.41 in site revenue generated by you. Complicating matters is that every time you click an ad, whether accidentally or purposefully, more cost accrues. Let's say one of these ads costs $5 per click. Brian and Co. may get 60% of that number ($3). Let's say you accidentally click 1 ad every 3 visits (2 ads per day). That would equate to 61 clicks per month, which would equate to an additional $183 in monthly revenue that you generate for the blog. 

This nets out to a theoretical $189.61 that you generate on a monthly basis. 

The problem with this approach is that all of these numbers are variable. The cost per 1k impressions is variable. The cost per click of each display ad on the site is INCREDIBLY variable. The percentage that the site takes is variable. The number of times you click an ad, whether on purpose or accidentally, is variable. 

This is all to say that it's essentially impossible to predict and is highly dependent on the site's monetization strategy.

Source: I do this for a living.

Joined: 04/23/2014

MGoPoints: 5469

Sports

November 1st, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^

One thing I want to make sure people DON'T take away from this post is the idea that the blog makes almost $200 per person per month. It definitely does not. This is just meant to be a rough representation of how this revenue stream can work. 

Realistically, ad click numbers are likely lower. Cost per 1k impressions is likely closer to $3. 

Like I said above, this is an UNBELIEVABLY variable industry. The idea that people just print money every time an ad is seen is this weird misconception that permeates a lot of our assumptions regarding monetizing the internet. 

When done correctly, online advertising can be insanely lucrative. However, it's extremely challenging to do correctly and there's tons of room between losing money and making a killing. 

Joined: 04/23/2014

MGoPoints: 5469

Hab

November 1st, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^

It's almost like you'd be in favor of some form of regulation to help bring some sense of stability to those wildly divergent positions.

Off-the-wall question... in online advertising, if you're not making a killing, is it seen as the same thing as losing money?

Joined: 01/02/2015

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Sports

November 1st, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^

Mgoblog will still get credit. The clients that are purchasing ad space assume a certain scale with this business model. It assumes that people will bounce. After all, depending on the lifetime value of a customer, many businesses that aren't straight ecommerce can spend a fair bit to acquire one new purchaser.

Joined: 04/23/2014

MGoPoints: 5469

CTSgoblue

November 1st, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^

I ran a web content business for awhile many years ago and had a user who thought he was "helping out" by clicking on every ad he saw.  After a couple weeks of that, he ended up getting me put in AdSense jail for a month or two for "click fraud"--I ballparked that he alone cost me around $600-800 with that when I had to runs some junk ROH CPM ads while I appealed to get my account reinstated.  Don't be that guy either :)

Joined: 08/20/2014

MGoPoints: 5362

Seth

November 1st, 2019 at 11:21 AM ^

There are a lot of factors to calculate so it's best to do it by time. Figure the ads you see are $3/thousand (depreciating if you click a lot) and they'll change every time you reload the page, or automatically every 30 seconds. Also figure Paypal will take 10% off the top.

Conservatively I'd guess a regular reader is about $5/month annually, some are up to $20, and most of our flyby readers are in the $0.35 to $1.00 range.

We're looking into a membership thing that would serve the site without ads, plus a book and a shirt every year. We won't lock any content behind a paywall though.

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