First Bombcast Ad

Does the addition of ads mean that they'll be able to hire staff to fix the website?

/sorry to kill the positive parade

Alright, as long as it's not as uncomfortable and weird as The Skeptics Guide crew having a fake conversation about how much the just love Hulu Plus. Everyone got to get paid.

"WHY IS MY MICROPHONE OFF!"

I have yet to listen, but I doubt it's going to bother me. And as everyone else pointed out, if it means the Bombcast can keep trucking on then fuck yeah.

As long as Jeff reads them, I'm cool with it.

Whatevs.

No problem with it. Squarespace, Audible, etc support some of my favorite podcasts.

I haven't heard it yet, but if Jeff reads them with WiiWare store music I'm all for 'em.

@ddensel: Yeah, I was pretty surprised that it wasn't Audible or Hulu Plus. Squarespace is up there too, I guess.

Though man, if Jeff gets in touch with Justin McElroy and they work out an Extreme Restraints cross-promotion, it might be the greatest thing ever.

They were fine. The one during the break was a little long, but whatever. It's not like these can't be skipped.

Good for them about time they start making some money, if Stone Cold can do it why can't they.

Perfectly fine with ads if it helps the GB crew fund more dumb stuff, even as a subscriber I will still download and listen to the ad-version as long as I don't have to listen to that shit ass Pepsi Next ad that I hear on a lot of podcasts "Pop goes the Pepsi Next can.." makes me want to stab my eardrums with a sharp pencil.

I wonder how much it cost?

I've never heard of Square Space. I figured their first ad would be something like Pepsi or I dunno something more general appeal. Definitely not Square Space whatever that is.

As long as they continue to provide subscribers an ad-free version every week, I have no problem with this. People who devote three hours every Tuesday to creating content as fantastic as the Bombcast deserve to be compensated for it, whether in the form of ad revenue, subscribers, or some undiscovered third option.

OMG THE WII SHOP MUSIC PLAYED DURING THE AD. Love it.

Literally every podcast I have ever listened to that's not the Bombcast has had ads and the premium feed is there for people who don't want to hear it.

Anyone who has an issue with this (if they exist) are idiots, plain and simple.

Indeed. This I don't mind, but when the flow of an interesting conversation is interrupted because the host goes "hold on, I need to read this thing. THIS PODCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY AUDIBLE DOT COM THE INTERNETS LEADING RESOURCE IN AUDIOBOO-", it really sucks the life out of podcasts and I hope that doesn't happen.

Unfortunately the site is busted in a handful of different ways right now. They acknowledged this on Unprofessional Fridays last week, when Alexis said something like "We're making good progress on the Gamespot redesign, once that's out we can focus on Giantbomb again and fix EVERYHING."

...so yeah, get used to the issues for awhile, I guess.

You're premium, so what are you worried about?

The ads are fine, but I would prefer ads that don't fit the Giant Bomb demographic. Like ads for prostate supplements or feminine hygiene products or Final Fantasy XIV.

Didn't realize there was a second feed- I just downloaded the podcast from my phone for the drive home. Awkward cuts in the middle of the podcast would be weird, then. It's not a big deal either way.

Why not all three? "Do you want to maintain prostate health, but still walk out the door feeling like a vibrant young woman? Try Final Fantasy XIV. We guarantee your feminine realm will feel reborn."

I'd love to, but they've locked out new subscriptions so even though the character creation music gives me an overwhelming feeling of Final Fantasy nostalgia and a desire to play, alas, I cannot.

Too bad Square! I'm over it already.

It's a slippery slope... If it stays the way it was this week, that's totally cool. Glad they can make some cash for this at the cost of just 30 seconds on my part. I have faith that they will maintain the integrity of the podcast and won't sell out.

A Bombcast ad is totally fine by me. It did take me a while to realize it wasn't a joke, though. :P

If the guys themselves "perform" the ads then I won't bother with the premium version of the bombcast at all.

Makin' dat scrilla.

Now that we're in the world of advertisement, Giant Bomb needs to get some of that hot, lubricated Extreme Restraints money. If the Brothers McElroy can dedicate 10 minutes of their 45-60 minute podcast on jokes about Butt Plugs, it only makes sense that the Giant Bombcast could triple that and dedicate half an hour of the podcast to such important topics.

As long as they don't plaster them throughout the podcast like every 20-30 min and make them like 1 min 30 sec long then I guess it's ok? It's still really annoying and jarring to hear. Also, no matter how funny of a skit they make up for the ad they get super old fast. The Comedy Button does/did them for example and after 2-3 times of hearing it played I was sick of it.

It's also going to be a huge pain in the ass to try and get the podcast app on my phone to download the proper one.

If there is a god, this will happen.

Pretty much this. With all the weird tangents they already go off on, they might as well have one they get paid for.

I think I enjoyed the commercials a bit too much. And that music brought back fond memories.

If every ad break in the bombcast is done over the DS Store music, i'm good with it.

Oh god. Yes.

I haven't listened to it yet! Gonna listen to it today! Sounds like you did it good Jeff! Which is good!

Jood Job Jeff!

!

I guess most people get their podcast through the iPhone/iPod and that doesn't work with the premium (I guess because they are password protecting it). We would have to open itunes, subscribe there and then sync that podcast down to the iPhone. That's really inconvenient, but I hate ad interruptions so it's just a question of what is worse.

Anyone got a solution for this?

I've been using an app called RSSReader RSSRadio that allows me to sync all the podcasts (including premium) directly into my iPad.

I haven't listened yet, how do they go about the ads in terms of placement? One at the top of the show and one at the beginning? Ads at regular intervals?

I don't really like the idea of the latter if that's how it's being done, I'd much rather just have one segment dedicated to ads like MBMBaM. Mind you I'm talking about a scenario that I don't even know exists, but yeah, just putting down what I prefer.

It's actually funny, the way MBMBaM have done it over the years they've probably been the ads I've paid the most attention to anywhere.

Edit: You know, this is really stupid, and I feel like an arsehole for even expressing these thoughts, but just to get them out there - there's a part of me (an unreasonable part) that's pretty disappointed that this is a thing that's happening.

It feels like another step in a kind of downward direction Giant Bomb have been moving in since CBS purchased them. It seems Jeff spends a lot of time tied up in meetings, Dave is gone, the website feels like it has less features than it had two years ago, ads on the bombcast...

It obviously hasn't all been negative, I'm obviously paying way too much attention to the things that seem worse off than the things that have improved, but yeah.

Hope I'm not coming off like an arsehole.

The ads were amazing. If I wanted a website... I might have been swayed!

Yay for GB money!

The ads were two of my favourite parts of this week's podcast.

This just makes me nervous about what else cbsi is gonna do next...

@meatball: one 30 second ad at the very start and a small break towards the middle of the bombcast

Cool, that sounds totally fine!

@meatball: also just for your knowledge there is an ad free version of the bombcast in the premium feed

I hope they just end up doing a straight up "knife show" style ad.

Yeah, which is great. It's not even necessarily that I have a problem with ads so much, but there's a side of me that looks at it as a negative change.

So excited for the crew to finally have ad support on the bombcast - and Jeff's radio voice is hilarious.

I just hope they don't stray too far from shit that's relevant to their target audience (us). Also, Squarespace actually does seem like a pretty cool service.

The ad seemed fine. It was short. My biggest problem is when some podcast have "conversational" ads that last like 2-3 minutes. I always just fast forward through those which is inconvenient for me and bad for the advertiser. I'm really happy how it was on todays podcast.

As long as they are promoting things that they don't mind promoting then sure, keep it up.

I don't want to hear any endorcements from something they obviously hate/dislike. Like Jeff promoting a new Nights game or something.

i've been subbing for awhile now so i don't really care. hope this enables them to create more content; somehow, someway