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Replace your own ads with commercial ads

I have a free account (still just testing the service and haven't made my decision whether or not I'll stick with it). To my understanding the free account means I get to look at ads and supporters and mentors don't get ads. I haven't seen a single ad that isn't your own. Why "waste" this ad-space with ads that don't create revenues? If you'd have third party ads bringing you revenues all the account types would help in paying the costs of keeping Roll20 up and running and making it better. It was said somewhere that Roll20 got 100 000 users way faster than you (the devs) ever hoped but still the bar here <a href="https://app.roll20.net/account/supporter/?minbarmain" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/account/supporter/?minbarmain</a> isn't even close to the second checkpoint which I'm assuming is the point where Roll20 can be sustained and improved from here to eternity and I would assume this it the goal for everyone. Revenues from ads could help getting there significantly.
well i difer, i hate adds and other companys adds, though if you put your own token store adds i can tolerate that.
1360764011
Pat S.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
While I don't like ads either, if it will help bring cash flow into this site then why not use third party ads. You see them on every other website already. If the cost to use the free account is to watch an ad or two then it is&nbsp;tolerable especially if it helps keep this site operating. I don't know what the going rate of pay that the ads would bring in but I do know there are webcomic authors that use them to supplement their income from their subscribers and their storefront. Even if the ad give a fraction of a penny per view, you could be looking at a substantial amount probably. I would actually disable my adblocker if it would generate them some income.
Undostrescuatro said: well i difer, i hate adds and other companys adds, though if you put your own token store adds i can tolerate that. I hate ads as well but I can get rid of them easily. All I need to do is pay for my use. Free accounts create costs just as paying accounts. I know it would be wonderful to live in a world where everything is free but as long as we live in a world where all the major resources are scarce we need to pay for the goods we want to exist. If one isn't ready to pay with money they need to pay in other forms. Ads are usually pretty painless way to do it. If you can think of another way for you to pay Roll20 then please suggest one. But do keep in mind that you would have to be ready for it and it would actually have to generate revenues for Roll20.
The donation bar doesn't go up because it's donations divided by number of users, and they're both going up. And I don't believe they count revenue from premium library content in that bar. So I hope they're not in such a bad place where they need third-party ads, and that they would consider other sources of revenue first.
1360776310
Gid
Roll20 Team
What Melvin said. Our subscriber base is growing in tandem with the total number of accounts being made.
Maetco said: &nbsp;If you can think of another way for you to pay Roll20 then please suggest one. But do keep in mind that you would have to be ready for it and it would actually have to generate revenues for Roll20. Selling custom dice skins, token/map combo packs to increase one-time sales, discounts or other benefits for yearly subscribers, using the new modules to cross-promote their other products, etc.
1360784603
Gid
Roll20 Team
Roll20 only takes a small percentage from marketplace sales. We are&nbsp;adamant&nbsp;about supporting our content creators, so they get most of the sales revenue from the marketplace. Nolan recently posted that our numbers are doing really well in our first year. If there's a slump in subscriptions later down the line, we might consider doing other things to bump up revenue, but we're doing far better than expected in Roll20's first year of business!
You are a far better service than I expected to see available for free, or for the cost of subscriptions, so that works out quite nicely then! :)
Melvin McSnatch said: Maetco said: &nbsp;If you can think of another way for you to pay Roll20 then please suggest one. But do keep in mind that you would have to be ready for it and it would actually have to generate revenues for Roll20. Selling custom dice skins, token/map combo packs to increase one-time sales, discounts or other benefits for yearly subscribers, using the new modules to cross-promote their other products, etc. Those are good if "you" actually buy stuff from the marketplace and then "you're" giving money directly to Roll20. My point was and still is that there are users who don't pay any money to Roll20 in anyway and ads would enable Roll20 to get even some revenues based on those users as well since they are creating costs just like paying users.
Kristin C. said: What Melvin said. Our subscriber base is growing in tandem with the total number of accounts being made. Ok. So am I supposed to read this as: "The bar actually is pretty bad at representing the needed subscribers."? I would assume that this type of a service has pretty heavy fixed costs but very small variable costs so if the percentage of subscribers is identical now at 100 000 users and what it was at 10 000 users the financial situation of the site would be a lot better now but the bar wouldn't have moved at all.
I have no problem with add banners for a system that offers a free service. &nbsp;Adds for things that might be of use to your users would actually be an additional service. &nbsp; Sell add space to gaming companies, stores and the such. &nbsp; We might see something that could be of use in our gaming here. Either way, thanks for a great interface and connection tool.
1360897123
Gauss
Forum Champion
Maetco, my understanding of the yellow bar is that it works something like this: total costs to operate - subscriptions = how far along the progress bar we are. If the costs to operate increase but the subscriptions do not (ie, an influx of free users) then the yellow bar will actually shrink. When we were on the border between red and yellow we hopped back and forth across the line for awhile as the numbers fluctuated. - Gauss
Maetco said: Ok. So am I supposed to read this as: "The bar actually is pretty bad at representing the needed subscribers."? I would assume that this type of a service has pretty heavy fixed costs but very small variable costs... That would be an incorrect assumption. The bar has been pretty accurate so far. It says we're making enough to keep the lights on, but only enough to work on Roll20 in our spare time. That is exactly where we find ourselves. And based on where it's at and the rate it's moving, if it does make it to the third segment, we will be at a point where some of us will be able to work on Roll20 full-time. If the bar is ever not an accurate reflection of that, we'd adjust the formula so that it was. And to answer this whole thread, we've run the numbers on this several times. If we thought we could generate more income by showing 3rd party ads instead of our own ads, we'd do it. Right now showing ads about subscribing/supporting us has been a good way to get people to subscribe, which is really what we want to happen. If you want to support Roll20, then I encourage you to subscribe, it's really that simple. There isn't some magic business model based on ads that is going to keep a service like Roll20 up and running. It takes the willingness of the community to say "Yes, a project like this is important to me, and I'm willing to do my part and support it."
Gauss said: Maetco, my understanding of the yellow bar is that it works something like this: total costs to operate - subscriptions = how far along the progress bar we are. If the costs to operate increase but the subscriptions do not (ie, an influx of free users) then the yellow bar will actually shrink. When we were on the border between red and yellow we hopped back and forth across the line for awhile as the numbers fluctuated. - Gauss This is how I understood it before Melvins comment. Either Melvin didn't know any better himself or I completely missinterpreted his post. It's good to hear Riley that it has been on the table. I have nothing against you marketing yourself or the ads being even dropped out completely. All I want is this site to develop into what it could be and to that to happen it will need money. I have no idea&nbsp; what percentage of accounts are free/supporter/mentor but I would assume that free accounts are the huge majority. If the subsciption ads increase effectively the amount of supporter/mentor accounts then great! Keep those ads in there.