What would you pay per-month for an Ad-Free ATS?

Lets face it, most posts in ATS just parrot media, so its ridiculous asking for a fee for something that can be obtained freely. Perhaps better if you included a membership with private forums and gave them little super rights so they can block people, see other peoples IP (with last few digits removed) etc etc. But many free software/sites that went to paid membership eventually lost their clientèle causing a slow but certain death.

the dreaded pay wall barrier (paying for content) rears its head.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I'd have to 'sell' the idea of a monthly subscription to my spouse and I don't think I could sell more than $2/month.

He does not use this site and does not *ahem* appreciate the value of it.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
We're looking at options for integrating a subscription service as part of ATS. The primary function would be for a completely ad-free and performance accelerated version of the site.

Below is a survey asking for your price point tolerance for a monthly subscription model. Keep in mind that if we can get into the zone of $5/month, it may make it worthwhile.



Also, not part of the survey, but just looking for your feedback. Would you want to be able to gift the ad-free subscription to other members?

I said this in the other thread where you linked this, but $5/month is completely ludicrous. The goal shouldn't be to charge what people are willing to pay, because if people do this the entire internet will break down into the very things you argued we need to prevent by keeping Net Neutrality as it is. Subscription s and performance enhancements go down that dark hole.

What sort of rate are you getting now on ad's per view? What I see with some searching is that the typical rate is 0.015 to 0.02 cents per view. At 100 page views per day that works out to $5.50 per year. If we go with 4 ad's per page (a rough guess at what it seems to be when I allow ad's), that's $22/year, a far cry from the $60/year you're saying you need to make it worthwhile.

So what would I be willing to pay? I'm currently generating about $20/year for you, so I suppose that means I would maybe be willing to pay $20 per year.

a reply to: KyoZero

Ok Mr " i joined 3 days before you did" lol.

My problem is that this idea will pave the way for a subsription based service, PPCV (pay per content view).

Am i allowed to raise my concern on this ? or will you make me pay for that too.

I would say ATS/SO should consider spreading the word about the AD vetting and white listing for a few months and see how things go before asking about subscriptions. As some one who has never used Ad blocker and has been super critical of ATS's dismissive stance when AD's integrity was an issue, I think the current vetting is a step in the right direction.

However, gifting subscriptions is a bad idea, Beggars, favoritism and fakeness will take over. In a perfect world it would work. Also, if it takes $5 to be worth while, that means each user that see's AD's is worth $5 a month. Given that 80% of ATS traffic is non-members, find how many members ATS has and do the math to see how much ATS makes a month.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Im just throwing this out there as a member making an observation: with you have over 7k posts under your belt, it appears that you know how to ATS pretty well. Chances of ending up banned would be slim, and wholly in your control it would seem (since i've kicked it with you here for years).



I think 5 is good. 10 is probably a little bit more than a lot of folks would be able to bear.

I see no issue with someone choosing to opt out of ads. I also completely fail to see how it would create a "two tiered system" if the only difference would be that one has ads, the other doesn't. And maybe one saw content the other didn't (we discuss movies here all the time that some folks chose to not pay to go see...same thing).

ATS and its members have been good to me for the last 9 years. Id also be happy to be able to donate ad free to others. Like Auggie, i'd rather it be anonymous.

Good discussion so far.

a reply to: stargatetravels

I don't think having to pay will bring in more members.

originally posted by: rigel4
a reply to: stargatetravels

Maybe let people have a little fun.. would be nice!

amen to that

A no-brainer. ATS has been worth $5 dollars a month for over a decade.

And 'gifting"! Very nice idea - affirmative on that too.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I think the magic number is $24.99 for a yearly subscription. Comes to about $2.08 a month. Another options is to have different tiers. monthly subscriptions -$5.00, 6 months -$19.99 or 12 months -$24.99.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

The two tier system arises from the proposal of "subscribers only" forums.

RATS is arguably something similar to that, but all people can access it relatively quickly, and it's not exactly highly used anyway.

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
Nothing.

What little I have left at the end of the month goes to Charity.

I won't sacrifice them for a hit on the ATS syringe.



Take that as you will.

Okay, upon review, that seemed blunt and harsh but was actually a complement to ATS's addictive pull.


I guess I could stretch to $2 a month, that's about £15 a year...
Which I'd rather went to charity, but having used ATS everyday for 2 years, and for probably 8 hours a day given its easy access via mobile and my unlimited schedule, why not give back.

The way I see it, not many people took your poll, if that is any indication,

If enough people are not donating, then I see even less paying a fee.

I would definitely pay $5-10 to get completely ad free content. Especially since I have seen more ads creeping into every nook and cranny. I hate ads and to browse without all that noise would be worth it to me.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Honestly last time I saw this I was a "someone" on ARS.

I left shortly thereafter after because I saw where that was going.

I'd be sad so see this go that at way, it's fine though.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I'd accept money to view more ads, if you like.

Honestly though, I would pay $5.00 no problem. If there were some fun perks, I'd happily pay 10, as well. (but I voted for 5 assuming we are just talking about the ads).

Havent read this whole thread yet. Have to get ready for work. And havent voted yet either.

I wonder if as a thought, an ad free streamlined access could be attached to the point system currently in place.

An example:

A penny a point, poster earn points and can buy monthly ad free access for 1000 points. This may instigate posting participation.

Additionally, when points are consumed you have the option to purchase 1000 points for ten dollars, via paypal or whatever.

Obviously there would have to be a balance created between post points and point consumption where a proper percentage of members would need to buy points for ad free access, or to tolerate advertisements until which time their thread creation or post participation accumulated the required amount of points to buy out the ad imprints.

Just trying to find an idea with parity to all concerns

What would you pay per-month for an Ad-Free ATS?

To be honest. Zero.

As to subscriber 'only' forums. I'd hate to see ATS become segregated like that, But it takes money to date women, and drink whiskey as my pappy use to say.

A website is an expensive endeavor. I don't fault the site owner/admin for going down this road.

Since ATS is a user content driven site all I see is the law of diminishing returns.

Viewership would decline, as content would. Especially so with subscriber 'only' forums.

Having said all that.

Skeptic do what you gotta do.

Just read through this entire thread. A lot of good ideas here, and a lot of good points and counter points as well.

I was discussing this with my gf this morning and said that I would gladly pay $5 a month or so for this site. Not much more than that, but only because I can't really afford it. This site has given me many many hours of entertainment and provided me with tons of information. I have learned a lot here and I love the membership here. There really isn't anywhere else that comes close, imho.

After reading through this thread, I do have some questions though.

.... 1 - If this was to occur, are members that don't see ads now going to start seeing ads? If not, how is that going to work? I think some are going to feel they are getting shafted, having contributed for various lengths of time and now they are being reverted to seeing ads like they mean nothing to the site. I wouldn't personally, but I can see how some would.
I would gladly see ads again if it meant doing my part to keep ATS alive but would pay if I knew that the money I'm paying for a subscription is going to making this site an even better experience.

....2 - Would members that are not paying, but are seeing ads, know that those paying subscription fees were paying rather than viewing said ads? Personally, I don't think we should know. I agree that this would create a sort of two tier system here and that is a slippery slope. I know that if shiny bells and whistles are added, some might be more apt to pay the subscription fee, but I just don't like the idea of paying and then it being flashed around just because I did. I can see that now...."Oh, you pay, you must be one of their shills" (because you know it would happen, and would really be only one of many problems I can see coming from that)

....3 - If this goes down, I think you need to make it perfectly clear to some (even within this thread) that are reading what you are proposing here as you saying that the site being "subscription only" is now being considered. I understand that is not what you are saying and are merely saying that paying a subscription fee would simply allow for ad free (streamlined...potentially) use and that others will still be able to use the site just as they are today, even if they can't or won't pay, as long as they see ads and don't use adblockers and the like.

............
Further thoughts...

I like the idea about having an ad that says something to the effect of "help fund ATS" and then a user can click that ad and be shown an ad, then go back to using the site. Maybe take a few of the ads away (not sure how many are on a normal page as I don't see them anyways) or something, if a user watches/views enough ads. It would be their contribution, in a way and I wouldn't have a problem with sitting through an ad or two to make sure the site makes it's money required to operate and make some profit for those who put much time and effort into making this site great.
I sit through ads on Hulu and other places when watching movies...they make their money and I get free content that I enjoy. It's a give and take.

Could that be implemented? Would advertisers even go for that? (I'm not sure how any of this works at all, tbh)

..........
I like the idea about potentially giving away 1 to 3 month subscriptions to members who post the most viewed or most starred/flagged content. It might just cause a few more people to be more apt to start threads with a lot of good content, rather than minimal posts. It could be a nice little competitive something and I for one would find that enjoyable.