Advertising on the Bombcast

I am not opposed to the concept: they need to monetize their content and Brett has been a nice addition to the CBS family. However I take issue with the Draft Kings ads. I don't like the advertising of gambling. People will argue it's fantasy sports drafts or whatever, but the idea is the same.

@ch3burashka:

- Who is Brett?

- If you "take issue with" the ads on the free version, download the ad-free premium version.

There is a premium feed, available for premium users, that have no ads.

@bceagles128 : Someone wrote into the Bombcast and referred to Jeff as Brett. Since then everyone refers to Brett as the more business minded, never seen, member of GB. That or he really exists and this post is a cover up.

Brett is real to me Damnit!

And I agree that draft kings feels out of place for me. But the great thing is, you dont have to use them. I.tried nature box and didn't like it, so I do my use them.

A lot of podcasts use a company called Midroll for their ads. That is why a lot of the podcasts have the same companies advertised: Square Space, Stamps.com, Draft Kings, Loot Crate, etc. I don't know how it is decided which company is featured in specific episodes, but they have little say in which company they read ad copy. Since the Bombcast has done ads for the companies listed, I would imagine that they also use Midroll. If you don't like the ads, listen to the premium feed. Otherwise there is little you can do, unless you wanna tell Draft Kings to stop buying ad space with Midroll.

I don't see what so terrible with voicing concerns over some of the advertisements on the Bombcast. Many people generally despise things like F2P games and other abusive money sucking tactics - Draft Kings is just a step away from that kind of stuff. Simply saying "listen to the ad-free version" isn't the best response. I honestly think there is a certain discussion to be had about the nature of ads on the Bombcast, and the "don't listen to them then" argument doesn't really add much to that discussion. Personally, I do wish that the ads on the Bombcast were more curated (for example Patrick's new podcast has ads for Chicago-related things).

Draft Kings seems rather quaint to me, not sure what the problem is.

Don't ever visit the UK, you just about can't move for gambling ads and betting shops here. Gambling is to the UK what guns are to America, I feel.

@billymaysrip:To be fair I wasn't saying his criticism was wrong, I also don't like Draft Kings, but there is an option besides continuing to listen to those ads.

@deerokus Draft Kings is the new online poker. It feels and seems very skeezy and dirty.

Something else you could do is take the surveys they ask you to take every few months. That is how advertisers find out who to sell to. Though I guess this probably wouldn't do much. Draft Kings may seem a little like gambling but I don't think it is too horrible in of itself.

Also yes the Bombcast and Beastcast are on midroll. Same company that does ads for podcasts like Comedy Bang Bang and WTF. I have heard Draft Kings ads on those as well.

@finaldasa: yeah, I have heard the ads before, just saying that seems strange to me that it's seen that way in the US (to the extent companies have to make up weird products like that which avoid your tight regulations). It's one of the biggest cultural divides between two similar countries.

Here (and generally in Europe) we have major sporting competitions and teams whose primary sponsors are online poker sites. Isn't seen as sleazy at all.

All of THAT said, Draft Kings doesn't seem like a great fit for the Bombcast anyway.

BAESBAWWWLLLULLL!!!!!

You could always try to outbid whatever Draft Kings is paying and have your own ad instead?

Jeff has talked about this a couple of times on his tumblr and maybe elsewhere(?). I believe they do get final say on what ads they use in the podcast and I have to imagine that if the feedback towards a particular advertiser is overwhelmingly negative then they would reconsider that advertiser in future episodes.

I say that you have a legitimate issue with a particular ad, you should be able to talk about it.

@deerokus: This is exactly what I wanted to say!

@evil_gordita: I think that if you are a premium member with the option to listen to an ad free bombcast and you go out of your way to listen to the standard podcast and then complain about the advertisers, you are literally going out of your way to find something to complain about.

Regardless, why do people care where grown ass adults spend their money? There is absolutely nothing wrong with draft kings or any other gambling establishment as long as they pay out when you win and they don't affect the outcome of the underlying events.

Fast forward past the ad then. I often don't feel like listening to them.

@dudeglove: jefflr.moe is what you are looking for.

I'm more offended by the ads for Crunchyroll than anything else.

...but I really enjoy hearing Jeff improv the pre-rolls for them.

@deerokus: Oh, it gets even weirder over here. Gambling? Illegal and wrong. But a state run lottery? Totally fine! Run ads all day about how much money you will win! People can get addicted to the lottery all they want, the money is going into the government, so it's fine!

I don't think people get it, but I'm relatively sure that Jeff has assumed the Brett identity in order to put a clear delineation between ad content and editorial content. He was never comfortable with editorship talking about the ads, and a few times he's downplayed it when editors bring up ad content during the runtime of the show. Hence why Jeff will say, "Who's Brett?" when someone brings him up during the show.

It originated with an Email, but I think Jeff finds it convenient.

@dudeglove: it's the second one (timezone seems to be GMT or close to that, so that the latest is actually Jeff going to work and the earliest is Jeff returning from work the previous day)

I caught Jeff's mixlr live for once where he talked about this for a while and wouldn't mind listening to it again. But, these aren't working for me, says they're corrupt?

Online poker is "skeezy"? I'm an American, and I find this to be a strange opinion. I guess this attitude explains how Congress gets away with banning it.

Anyway, I actually listen to the free feed specifically because I think the ads are funny. If we're going to talk morality, I find the garbage advertised on network TV in the US (junk food, prescription drugs, etc.) much worse than any of the companies DB deals with.

@frytup: I don't have a problem with those advertisements either. Companies are free to encourage you to engage in unhealthy behavior. Let's all just be adults and exercise some judgment about whether we want to actually engage in that behavior.

Look, when I gain weight, I don't run around blaming fast food places for it. I blame myself for being a lazy ass and for eating like shit. People need to stop making excuses and take some personal responsibility for their own bad habits.

Interesting. I definitely got that feel, it's nice to have it confirmed.

I'm not sure people have quite caught on, though. Small Business Man maybe worked a little bit better. I think it's funny though.

A while back, listeners took a survey to have ads relevant to our interests.

Apparently, a bunch of us like online gambling.

All this hand-wringing about fantasy baseball and gambling seems pretty silly (not to mention, sanctimonious) on a website that's about playing games. "Our games are for fun, those games are evil and wrong!"

It's just fantasy baseball, holy shit.

i know people have already said this but ill say it again. your a premium member, so just listen to the premium version without the adds. to those who are not and still have a problem with the ads subscribe. or accept the ads since they well money.
if you take offence to the gambling aspect of the one ad. then that i dont understand, i mean might as take offence to them talking about so many other things on the bombcast not to mention there is alcohol on some of the streams even a podcast devoted to drinking 40's while watching a movie.
does the add apply to me? no not at all but im also not interested in squarespace or that snack box thing that i cant even get in my country if i wanted to. but really. who cares

What's so bad with gambling? I know you're probably thinking that you read it's a sin in some book or that some percentage of people get addicted and spend up all their money. Now, the addiction part is true. But if you're really worried about promoting addiction and the social harms it causes please consider the podcast you're listening to and the way things like alcohol are discussed. Alcohol is similarly addictive and expensive, but it also is literally lethal. I cannot count the numerous times the content of the Bombcast has promoted binge drinking or getting black out drunk. The addition of Dan to the podcast dramatically increased this total. So if we're going to try and alter the show based on our own personal moral views perhaps we should start there and then work down to the ads?

I agree with the many posters who mentioned paying for the ad-free premium versions. If you are that disturbed by the ads that keep the podcast free for so many that you can't listen for 30 seconds or skip forward a bit, then shell out some coin and make them all go away. It's not ideal, but we don't live in the horrifying future where everyone can custom tailor every bit of outside information they see and hear. Don't worry, we're barreling ever closer to that world every day... just look at politics.

I'm not speaking specifically about this poster but at a certain point I kind of wish as a society (or a GB community) we could draw some sort of line about what really go online to complain about. Why has the internet just become some giant trash heap where every single person feels the need to constantly gripe about what they dislike. Not everything in the world needs to conform 100% to anyone persons specific likes and dislikes. When did we as a people become so narcissistic that when even the ads don't please us personally we immediately take to the internet to voice our displeasure. Sometimes I just want to give out hugs. It's like guys, it'll be okay. You can let it go.

There's a pretty cool lifehack you can do with podcasts, and it's actually completely free. I believe it's called fast forwarding.(or "skipping")

After listening to a couple Draftkings.com and Meundies ads on Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, I can't take gambling and underwear seriously.

I was going to advertise on the bombcast but I don't have anything to say and I have to finance a forward operating base next week. Wait a minute, can I advertise my base on the show?

It's weird to me to see the attitude towards gambling in the US. Here in Australia and I know also in the UK you can hardly consume any media without being slapped in the face with sports gambling ads so when Draft Kings came up through the podcast it didn't seem weird or out of place at all.

@stinger061: ithat attitude isn't universal in the U.S. I would say it's a vocal minority.

@deerokus said:

So true. I watch tennis on Sky Sports sometimes and almost every single ad is for a different sports betting app. Very different from when I watch it on Canadian TV where the ads are usually just for the sponsors of the tournament. The gambling ads are, for the most part, some of the worst garbage I've ever seen. I don't know who watches those terrible Bet Victor ads and thinks "oh yeah, that looks like a reputable company I should entrust with my money."

As a premium I too listen to the Ad version because A. I love the crew and wish to support them in more ways than one and B. I find them hilarious and just enjoy them. That's been the beauty of all the previous Ads, that haven't been off-putting, in that I've enjoyed listening to Ads. The whole listen to the premium feed is fair but voicing your opinion isn't a bad thing and @ch3burashka is doing just that. I agree that the Draft Kings Ads have just felt different and sorta dirty to me somehow but I won't forward them cuse it's the guys so it's my own fault for choosing to listen to them and for downloading the Ad version.

I will say though being an avid spots fan and listening to many sport podcasts this isn't my first rodeo with Draft Kings so it's not like a mind the site or gambling but it just felt super weird on here. Can't really explain it but it was just off-putting and mentally jarring to be honest. Bring back Pistachio Power Clusters and Stamps and while they're in PAX maybe we can have some Brett and Small businessman based Ads...... Just saying....

It's funny - as an Aussie I didn't even notice that it was a gambling ad - we're so inundated with gambling ads here around any sports event that I am oblivious to it.

Who cares about Draft Kings? People should be up in arms about Crunchy Roll! Moral depravity, etc etc.

As a premium member, I listen to the ads because I find Je- Brett's reading funny. The actual content of the ads are largely irrelevant.

Draftkings is totally legal, totally innocent.

The best way to encourage them to move away from ads you don't like is to not use the service they are advertising. Those little offer codes show who uses what, and if Midroll were to see that GB users don't typically sign up for X site, they'll push different advertisers instead.

Then again, I'm not so sure why you're offended by fantasy sports on a site dedicated to video games

I was more surprised to hear an ad for a mobile game on a video game website. I'm obviously not accusing anybody of anything because it's clearly out of their hands, but that Star Wars TCG spot seemed off-putting to me.

You know there is a Premium cut of the Bombcast without ads.

I really enjoy the advertising.

That shit's not even a game. You just collect cards and then look at them. They don't fight or play a hearthstone-esque game or anything like that.

Let me guess, you're offended with their language too. Keep your social agenda to yourself.