Don’t want to be a douche… But…

Little miffed about the advertisements in the last first ring daily episode. I listen to every episode on the treadmill each morning (along with Windows weekly, Sams report, WhatTheTech at various times of week) and while I’m absolutely fine with sponsors and adverts in those – because they are a) significantly longer. b) free to everyone. I totally understand the need to get paid for your work – I am not fine with it in the premium content that I have already paid to access – and it messes up my flow on the treadmill ?

Now I remember on the FRD not so long ago Paul had a big rant about people complaining about adverts for free things (people need to get paid – which I support), but when already charging access to the premium section I don’t expect a couple of minutes from 20 approx to be adverts.

Now I know Paul doesn’t like to talk about this, but I recall he moved house recently? Is the electrician’s bill really that much that a week or so after we have adverts? ?

No more please.

Cheers

Joe

Conversation 24 comments

  • StevenLayton

    01 October, 2017 - 8:39 am

    <p>I think it was on the Friday episode, which isn’t Premium content. As long as they don’t creep into Premium content, it’s hard to complain.</p>

    • Polycrastinator

      02 October, 2017 - 10:12 am

      <blockquote><a href="#185989"><em>In reply to StevenLayton:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm going to be the outlier here I think: I wouldn't even mind if it came into premium content. It's relevant, it's interesting, and it's targeted. It's a product Paul says he thinks is a good one. Part of this, sure, is because I've spent a lot of time working in deployment so it's directly relevant to my job, but I doubt I'm the only one in that situation.</p>

      • helix2301

        Premium Member
        02 October, 2017 - 11:29 am

        <blockquote><a href="#186467"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>I think since premium episodes short sometimes like 7 min or 5 min when Paul on train I think they should stick to just Friday I think M-T more of a vlog then anything else</p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    01 October, 2017 - 11:20 am

    <p>Just so this bit is clear, no money from Premium ever makes its way to me directly, I just get paid like everyone else here. This is a business, not a personal project, and there's a company behind it with real human beings who are employees, etc. I'm just one of them. I know you're joking about the electrician thing, but that was all out of pocket, real money that my wife and I paid for ourselves. It was very expensive, and we take it very seriously, and it's not something I can joke about. My wife has been in tears, literally, over the costs and stress of some of the things we're doing this year. In opening up about what we're doing to the world, I realize I'm also opening myself up to a weird level of criticism, but I knew that going in. This year is a huge financial setback for us, personally, but we feel like it will pay off in the long run. We'll see.</p><p><br></p><p>Moving on from that pet peeve, the Friday FRD show is public, not premium.</p><p><br></p><p>But regardless, the premium promise isn't "zero" ads. It's much less advertising than with non-premium. We do have a sponsorship set up with SmartDeploy, which I feel offers a high-value product. This isn't crap or spam, it's useful. And that is absolutely one bar for this type of thing. I wouldn't do it if they didn't provide something excellent. </p><p><br></p><p>What we all need to understand here is that the world where web ads pay the bills is long over. But we are always trying to maintain the right balance between the needs of our readers/viewers and the needs of the business. Premium is just a year old, and we're still feeling our way around a bit here. We're certainly going to make mistakes, go down paths that don't work out, whatever. But this isn't one of them.</p><p><br></p><p>Yes, I do get a little tired of defending what I think is obvious but, the truth is, it's always OK to ask about this stuff. You should feel like you're getting the value you expect when you're paying for something. All I'm asking is that you remember the context here. It's a group of really great people working at a small, struggling company that are trying to make it all work. Not trying to make things terrible for you.</p>

    • helix2301

      Premium Member
      02 October, 2017 - 8:32 am

      <blockquote><a href="#186011"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My feelings on this are Friday show is always the longest close to 40 minutes or more and its free to the world if you want put an ad fine with me its read ad. I think the ad would over shadow the great content on m-t because of the episodes only being 20 min give or take. That being said Paul still great love show 🙂 </span></p>

    • MattHewitt

      Premium Member
      02 October, 2017 - 11:16 am

      <blockquote><a href="#186011"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>I was annoyed at first like the original poster, but after Paul's comment I understand and am over it. I didn't even think about the Friday episodes being open to everyone. It makes sense to me. It may be worth addressing on the podcast itself though. I think part of my initial annoyance was the surprise of it without any prior mention or discussion. (Maybe there had been and I missed that episode or post though, you guys generate a lot of content and sometimes it is hard to keep up with. A good sign that premium is totally worth it.)</p>

  • moogleassassin

    01 October, 2017 - 11:20 am

    <p>Ahhh, well that's fine then, didn't twig that ?</p>

  • moogleassassin

    01 October, 2017 - 11:38 am

    <p>And after the page refresh I also see paul's comment… I was going for jest rather than serious on that electrician comment – if that failed to hit the mark then I apologise. As someone else pointed out Friday is a non premium day (didn't actually realise that as I bought into premium near the start so always had it) – so it's absolutely fine for sponsorship on there. </p><p><br></p><p>My own selfish thing is that adverts are hard to listen through while needing something to focus the mind on during treadmill. I'm absolutely not complaining about paying for the work you guys do via premium and I think it's money well spent and will be renewing. Don't think I've missed listening to an episode in months… </p><p><br></p><p>While I'm had at work complaining about 1st World problems, my run is 30min long and when the episode ends at 27mins or something it really inconveniences me ? Could you just abuse Brad or reminiss about Windows Phone (I only gave up my HP Elite x3 the other week for a Pixel and I'm still in mourning) for a few extra mins please. </p><p><br></p><p>Cheers</p><p><br></p><p>Joe. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      01 October, 2017 - 4:16 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186014"><em>In reply to moogleassassin:</em></a></blockquote><p>I didn't mean to get too serious there. I felt like you meant it as a joke, and certainly I understand as well as anyone that written word meant as humor often is not interpreted correctly. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      01 October, 2017 - 4:16 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186014"><em>In reply to moogleassassin:</em></a></blockquote><p>Also, sorry for the lost 3 minutes. :)</p>

  • bharris

    01 October, 2017 - 12:39 pm

    <p>Honestly, live ads do not bother me, especially when they highlight relevant stuff. I don't know how I would feel about Brad touting the new "whatever" burger at McDonalds or the latest flavor from Snapple but letting me know about IT stuff, even if paid for, I just don't have a problem with it……</p>

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      02 October, 2017 - 4:25 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186030"><em>In reply to bharris:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm with you. The SmartDeploy ad, whether in a free-for-everyone episode or a premium-only episode, doesn't bother me in the least. In much the same way ads in Windows IT Pro never bothered me even though I paid to subscribe to the magazine back in the day.</p>

  • Winner

    02 October, 2017 - 12:21 pm

    <p>I hate to say it, but if your podcast player doesn't do 30 second skip, find one that does. That's what I do for all of my podcasts. But when there's a new advertiser I do listen, once, to the new ad. Then after that they get skipped.</p>

  • Darekmeridian

    02 October, 2017 - 1:41 pm

    <p>I don't care about the AD one way or the other but it does look a little "egg on facey" to the guy who was just so outraged about the appearance of small ads popping up in Windows. I know it's not the same thing, but on the face of it can be con-screwed that way. I realize that $64 is barely enough to pay for a dinner at a decent restaurant, but I pay the premium to keep the content alive on an OS that I love that's basically dying a slow death. So if a couple of AD's have to be thrown in to keep things going.. I don't have a problem with it.</p><p><br></p><p>Just Sayin'</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • Sprtfan

      02 October, 2017 - 2:18 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186534"><em>In reply to Darekmeridian:</em></a></blockquote><p>I don't mind the sponsorship either, but I do get your point. I think one of the main reasons Paul condemned Windows ads was that Windows was something that was paid for. </p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      02 October, 2017 - 11:24 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186534"><em>In reply to Darekmeridian:</em></a></blockquote><p>What restaurants are you eating at!?</p>

      • Darekmeridian

        13 December, 2017 - 3:24 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#190160"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote>Have a family barely ever eat alone. </blockquote><p><br></p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 December, 2017 - 4:25 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#186534"><em>In reply to Darekmeridian:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes, it's fair to compare an individual to a company that generates $25 billion in revenues every quarter. </p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    02 October, 2017 - 11:31 pm

    <p>Premium was never promised to be ad free. Just reduced ads :)</p>

    • anchovylover

      03 October, 2017 - 1:15 am

      <blockquote><a href="#190302"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>That's not as I remember it Jim. It may be that it wasn't explicitly stated but it was certainly implied.</p><p><br></p><p>In any event, I haven't seen an ad while logged in. I don't think it's much of a problem. It's that massive pop up that annoys me but never mind, we have debated that to the death.</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        13 December, 2017 - 4:25 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#191082"><em>In reply to anchovylover:</em></a></blockquote><p>Not sure why you remember it that way, but the language has never changed.</p>

        • anchovylover

          13 December, 2017 - 4:40 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#227377"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>This is an old thread, not sure why it's been revived. </p><p><br></p><p>Paul, I accept my memory with this may be incorrect. In any event, I've moved on from the ads issue. I still object to pop ups at any time but it is what it is. It's your site and you are free to do as you please. I can always set up auto log in if I wish after all.</p><p><br></p><p>Merry Christmas Paul to both you and your family. ?</p>

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