Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Media 7

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  • Deborah,

    <quote>i do feel a little guilty about that (us chardonnay socialists are always feeling guilty about something). i could turn off adblock for public address i suppose...

    just out of curiosity, what percentage of PA readers use firefox?<quote>

    I use it, with the ads on. What's with this free riding business? We get to come here and play around on the best blog site in NZ, and you're too damned stingy to watch the ads in return for all the entertainment?

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    And congratulations, Russell. That's fantastic news, and at last, it gives me an incentive to work out how to run TVNZ news clips on my Mac.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Brent Jackson,

    Deborah wrote:

    What's with this free riding business? We get to come here and play around on the best blog site in NZ, and you're too damned stingy to watch the ads in return for all the entertainment?

    It's not the stinginess - its the ads themselves. I have a real problem with ads that move. If I am reading, and something on the screen moves, it draws my attention, hence my reading experience suffers. Several times I have turned off adblocking on PA, but usually its only a matter of days before I turn it back on because I find that the obtrusiveness of moving ads detracts too much from my PA experience.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report

  • daleaway,

    I don't watch the ads, because after Men in Black who is not frightened of the flashy thing/memory wipe?

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report

  • Mark Thomas,

    What's with this free riding business? We get to come here and play around on the best blog site in NZ, and you're too damned stingy to watch the ads in return for all the entertainment?

    ouch

    adblock plus is on by default, so it has to be a conscious decision to watch ads on a particular site. i started watching the PA site ads today. it's certainly one of the tidiest sites around in terms of advertising. i just hate the way ads fill my head with crap.

    you're right though, and i feel guilty for potentially reducing advertising income for the hard working PA bloggers. i wonder if i should also feel guilty about nzherald? youtube? facebook?

    i just think it's interesting. what if firefox got say 50% of the market, and everyone used adblock plus? are the agencies thinking about this? are my posts reducing PA's income as we speak?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 317 posts Report

  • Adrian Wills,

    Man, they really need to get the message out to Mac users. See above.

    They sure do, soon as I heard I had a look at their site and still said Mac wasn't properly supported... Hopeless. I didn't think Flip4Mac supported the DRM stuff (at least it didn't use to) so will get onto it asap. Cheers!

    And...

    Mac OS X 13.7 %

    YES! Here we come...

    Parnell, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    Surprised to see IE up over 50%!

    probably all those public servants.

    a few places are still microsoft-only shops.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • dc_red,

    I have another issue. Both Firefox and IE are installed on our work computers, but all settings are, um, set, and we can't install any plugins.

    Once every year or so the powers that be deem us worthy of a few updates.

    So, no ad blocker for me.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    Here in the advertising industry, we have a special way of detecting the use of ad blocker and, every time it blocks an ad, we sacrifice a kitten to Mammon.

    True story. Honest.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    This just in:

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, a cult favorite in the United States thanks to their HBO television show, won their country's first Grammy in 24 years on Sunday.

    Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, who play marginally talented folk singers struggling to make it in New York, picked up the best comedy album Grammy for their debut EP "The Distant Future."

    The last New Zealander to win a Grammy was opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1984, according to the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.

    WOO-HOO!!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    WOO-HOO indeed. But would someone tell frigging Reuters that countries don't win Grammies. Only Eurovision, of which least said soonest mended.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    Only Eurovision, of which least said soonest mended.

    hey... no bad words about Eurovision.

    and congrats to FOConchords!!

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Mark Thomas,

    woop!

    countries don't win Grammies

    true, but FOC are so unashamedly kiwi.

    (i have no idea who those other comedy album nominees were)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 317 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Heh. Good week for Obama.

    He even won a Grammy.

    I think I'd be feeling the world was against me if I were Hillary.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Jason Kemp,

    Its great that the Conchords won.

    However you link to the Obama award notes

    Hillary Rodham Clinton took home a Grammy in 1996 for her audio version of the book, "It Takes A Village."

    so it just make be that in some categories (not comedy) there are more awards than nominees

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    (i have no idea who those other comedy album nominees were)

    Going for the one that seemed the most vaguely familiar: Harry Shearer is one of the Simpsons' voice actors, came via SNL. And some movies.

    There's a sense in which FOTC just beat Spinal Tap for a Grammy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • Mark Thomas,

    Spinal Tap...

    yeah, i didn't want to be the negative guy...
    FoC have done so well to succeed in the U.S. with their non-mainstream type of humour - who would've thought

    in related news, Jemaine's been hired to act in a film by that napoleon dynamite guy

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 317 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    The last New Zealander to win a Grammy was opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1984, according to the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.

    Stuff is saying that Fran Walsh won for co-writing 'Into the West' in 2005. Kiri was the last one before that apparently.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    and i do love pushing dasies, possibly my favourite show of the new season

    Me too, Sue. Diana Witchel was very scathing of it, but we don't care, do we? I love the backdrops - very effective, in their primary colours. And congratulations to you, Mr Brown. About time. And big ups to TVNZ On Demand. I watch quite a bit of stuff on there. Very useful for those of us who had the freeview box the minute it came out, and then just couldn't work out how to connect it, so had to return it and get our money back.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • Tony Kennedy,

    WOO-HOO indeed. But would someone tell frigging Reuters that countries don't win Grammies. Only Eurovision, of which least said soonest mended.

    Right It was kind of hard to work an Irish angle in to this thread, but Craig inadvertently opened the door. It’s Eurovision time again and Ireland has got its shortlist sorted. The overwhelming favourite with the bookies is Dustin, north Dublin’s best known turkey about town.

    Other Eurovision countries are crying fowl. (oouch)

    Btw – Congratulations Russell on the new gig, any plans to take it on tour?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report

  • Tony Kennedy,

    as for Flight of the Conchords check out this in Sunday's Grauniad.

    I think they made an impression

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    We get to come here and play around on the best blog site in NZ, and you're too damned stingy to watch the ads in return for all the entertainment?

    Yup, soz. I justify it myself by flattering myself that I add content. When I was just a lurker I left the ads on. Also, I've never ever ever ever clicked on an ad, so really it would be wasting PA's bandwidth.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Yup, soz. I justify it myself by flattering myself that I add content. When I was just a lurker I left the ads on.

    How sweet.

    Also, I've never ever ever ever clicked on an ad, so really it would be wasting PA's bandwidth.

    There are two kinds of advertising -- cost per click and CPM. Cost per click ads appear when the space isn't sold (for technical reasons, something has to be served). They're usually uglier. If someone clicks on one of those, it makes me between 35 and 90 cents.

    After an early flurry, most people stopped clicking and I can't really blame them. Although the Seek text links (do you see those with the adblocker?) did bring in $140 last month.

    CPM (cost per mille) advertising is priced on the number of ad impressions. I promise 60,000 impressions a week so the price revolves around that.

    That's all agency advertising, the commission structure is brutal and it all but stopped last year. But next month suddenly looks really good, and I plan to spend money on some content. I'm always meaning to do that more, but the wild variations in monthly income make it hard to plan.

    Actually, there's three kinds of advertisement; the last being when we agree a price to have an ad up for a week. Bands and record companies always get a friendly price, and I think we did a pretty good deal for the Christmas campaign from felt.co.nz. Those ads are really important, because they're the ones you might miss something by not seeing, and they relate to the PA community. Think bFM. You'd miss heaps if you ran an adblocker over your radio.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    The OS/browser numbers are interesting compared to an NZ bank I have numbers for. The visitors here are definitely Firefox/Mac heavy.

    And no OS/2 or PSP/PS3 users? Man, people use that to do their banking, why not read PA?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

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