Amount of Subscriber vs. Non-Subscriber Content

No longer a premium subscriber...haven't been in a while. But is it me or it's starting to feel like GB is goint a little too far. In "pink" what is basically left for non-subscriber to click on.

Put out premium content, non-subscribers complain. Put out more free stuff, subscribers complain no value for their subscription. The cosmic ballet goes on.

Two things 'in pink' and two things not 'in pink' on the main page showcasing what is new is a pretty weak argument. How much premium vs free content have they put out in the last month/couple of months is a better take on it.
And with Dan on board they have been putting out a lot of quick looks lately, sooo, I think they are doing okay.

Hm, yeah it'd probably be nicer to have 3 free things show if you're a non-premium user instead of 2. Still have the one premium tease, but free users would get more use from those four main spots.

When I first clicked on this post and saw the image you posted, I thought you were gonna be complaining about that ad in the background, which is atrocious (thanks, AdBlock/premium subscription!). But yeah, I've definitely noticed that there's been a ton of premium content recently.

At this point in the year, the guys are probably really busy with GOTY preparations, so there aren't gonna be as many quick looks, which are the primary free content. Also, if you look at the types of premium content they're putting out, those haven't really changed. It's mostly Bombin' the AM and other Patrick content, Metal Gear Scanlon, and UPF; the ratio of premium to free content is just off at this time of the year. If you wanted to argue that MGS should be free content, I'd probably agree with you, because, at least in my mind, it's just another Endurance Run. Also, it would be nice if GBEAST put out more free content, because having Vinny be behind a paywall is criminal. Criminal, I say! But seriously, like someone said above me, these guys have to make money. The guys are trying to grow the website, and it takes cash to make that happen.

yeah..you're right. I didn't express myself clearly. There is a lot of content. But man, when I entered the site, I was really depressed by how much visual space is left when non-subscribers. Since I was a subscriber for years, I didn't notice it before I guess.

I'm not sure if this is complaining about the two subscriber videos on the front page or the PS4 skin that takes up most of the screen. Because I find the latter much more obnoxious and exactly the kind of awful advertising that sites need to get away from if they want to try to tell people that Ad Block is killing the internet.

I'm just subscribing because I want to give some money to the dudes for the awesome podcast and great Quick Looks. The only premium content I enjoy is Jar Time, which has become more frequent, but still isn't a dependable feature I'd say. I did enjoy the Playdates too, but they are infrequent as well.

I wish they'd make more content for me, but realistically, I don't think I'm the target audience for the type of content they want to make/the general user base wants. I think Jar Time and the Playdates are far more interesting content than Unprofessional Fridays, which I think is pretty boring. Most people seem to really enjoy it though.

Pretty much. Speaking as someone who isn't subscribed to Giantbomb anymore, the people who pay should have more room to complain than the people who don't, right?

However, this is definitely a good point. I don't think that Giantbomb has ever really said anything about Adblock, but you still can't have ads that take up so much screen space and cause the website to load slower than it should while expecting people to not do something about it. I don't mind ads before a video (as long as they're under a minute long) and I don't mind a block that's advertising something here or there, but that Playstation ad is just fucking audacious.

I don't know if ad placement is something that Giantbomb really has a say in, though. That seems more like CBSi's thing.

@believer258: Giantbomb hasn't officially said anything but Patrick said that people who use Adblock should die in a fire. Which was nice to hear.

He did apologize for that though so at least he wasn't serious about wishing death on anyone.

Of course he was joking.

I was strongly against using Adblock on sites that I visit often at first. I kept it off for Giantbomb for quite a long time. But I'm not going to be assaulted by them and I shouldn't notice an almost immediate and very noticeable difference in loading speed when turning it on.

If you scroll down there's a tonne of free articles. Also you just picked one day where it happened there was two bits of subscriber content up. When you come back tomorrow, there'll be one bit of subscriber content and two free ones (captain toad + podcast).

@believer258 said:

They can ofc. chose to place or not place the ads wherever they want but if they want cash they have to abide.

(Never mind..)

Dude your nitpicking. You could just as easily have made a thread with the same picture, yet augmenting for the opposite. Is it really that weird that they try to promote the subscriber content.

(Picture of the full site,as it looked right before I wrote this comment. Free videos in pink.)

@nashvilleskyline:

@maxopower has a point. You're basically looking at a space for 4 videos in the original screenshot. 2 of them are premium videos. Nothing really extreme is going on here (except for that massive PS4 ad).

Yeah, not at all. In fact I want them to go a lot further on the premium. Right now about 50% to 60% (it seems, no actual numbers here) of the content I like to see is premium. I'd like to see that number closer to 75% but then again I really like the quick looks, reviews, podcast ( I choose to play the non-premium version because the ads get them more money and I like what they say in them. ), unfinished and other videos. Honestly the things that should stay free in my opinion are the quick looks, podcast and reviews. Pay wall everything else if they want. Just keep premium at 60 dollars max per year and I am happy.

@maxopower said:

Dude your nitpicking. You could just as easily have made a thread with the same picture, yet augmenting for the opposite. Is it really that weird that they try to promote the subscriber content.

(Picture of the full site,as it looked right before I wrote this comment. Free videos in pink.)

This isn't very fair though, since trailers are part of this feed.

A better way of looking at it, is taking the video's page and seeing there are 13 feature video's in there of which 4 are Premium. Under normal circumstances it would be 5 since the Thanksgiving stream was free.

I don't think site usability for non-subs is being "self-centered."

Only somewhat related, but I enabled Adblock a couple weeks ago for Giantbomb. The number of animated ads with audio was getting to the point where flash player would crash if I left a page up for too long. It got to the point where I couldn't listen to a Bombcast the whole way through without it crashing and burning. My laptop isn't the greatest performing machine in the world, but I can still play some games relatively well, and those ads were killing it. I know, premium is on sale and all, but money is still tight. I like the site...but when it gets to the point where I have to choose between A) seeing content and the staff doesn't get money for it or B) not seeing anything at all, I'm likely going with A.

Pink? It's purple.

Quick tip: if it bothers you too much, click on the subscriber videos and they will go away from the queue. Sometimes I would click things on my PC I've watched on my phone just so that I have a fresh content feed on the main page. I admit it's a bit inconvenient but that's how it works. Also, don't be ridiculous that's obviously purple.

I've said it numerous times but they're basically withholding content that used to be free, holding content for ransom until you pay up for premium with the false premise of "support the duders". They are already on a cbs payroll. I understand they've got a business to run but I feel like most of the content has been tucked away under premium, not because the influx of money allowed them to make more premium content. But whatever, I'll stick to the quick looks and the very occasional live stream. I remember the days when TNT was a thing to look forward to....aaahhh...those were thedays.

@believer258: I'm right there with you on the ad block. I turned it off recently for various sites I use a lot because hey, I want them to make money and right now I'm not a premium member. However, I noticed a significant drop off of performance on the web page due to ads filling up the page. I still have it off now because my inner conscious tells me to keep it off but boy, there has gotta be a better way right?

People calling light purple "pink" irks me to no end. At first I didn't know if I was seeing color wrong or if Crayola had lied to me or what. Seems like some people just think that's pink for some reason.

The better way is not filling up the entire front page with one massive fucking ad.

I don't think it's as simple as asking someone not to do that, though. There are several groups involved in getting that ad on GB's site. Sony's marketing department probably offered a pretty penny to fill up Giantbomb's front page with an ugly ad for their console, and CBSi want that "pretty penny". Giantbomb's editors probably have little say in the matter.

Still, I'm not going to wait an extra few seconds every time I want to load a web page. I can turn on Adblock and Giantbomb loads instantly. Most things load instantly.

I think it would be great if they could make more money on video and podcast ads because, strangely enough, I'm not bothered by those. They're both good opportunities for me to open a new tab and check the forums or do something else for a minute or so.

Advertisements themselves are pretty ineffective on me. I just completely tune them out.

I don't understand this premise.

Why does being a CBSi property invalidate the subscription business model? Giant Bomb itself still needs to be a profitable entity or CBSi would dump it. Running a site that exists purely on an ad revenue business model is difficult - especially if you aren't relying on underpaid (or even unpaid) freelancers pumping out a huge number of posts every day.

Giant Bomb may have been purely ad driven in its early days, but it's unfair to view that as a precedent for how they should operate now. The economic situation GB was in back then (ad-driven but mostly reliant on VC investment) is very different from their current situation. Even speaking more generally, the overall economic climate of games media and other internet media at large has changed a lot in six years.

The way I see it is that regular users get all the more traditional meat and potatoes game coverage: Trailers, Feature Stories, Interviews, Bombin the AM for news discussion, Bombcast (the sites flagship program), and Quick Looks (usually the bulk of the video programming week to week). They're selective about what they cover due to the small number of staff, but you pretty much get a fully functioning game site out of the box. Buying into premium gets you specialty programming like Let's Plays, off topic podcasts, and a weekly variety show. You only pay for add-ons. This seems reasonable to me.

If you've got an issue with just being presented with the premium content, or having premium content advertised to you, then you've got no complaint at all. Selling subscriptions is a huge part of the sites job.

Also, that giant ps4 ad totally sucks.

Yeah, I think at least 50% of this is people not understanding how those 4 tiles work. It just surfaces stuff you haven't clicked on yet. Click on it, even if you dont watch it, it will be gone next time you hit the main page and something else will be in it's place.

For example - Captain Toad was front and center for me an hour ago, but after watching some of it, Patricks Q&A is in the #1 slot.

How could you ever possibly argue against giving someone money for something they worked on?

It's a no win battle so I think they are on the correct side by giving subscribers more content. I don't care either way- I would pay even if the tip was to freebies (which- to be fair- is still the bulk of content), but others don't tend to agree.

I think just having occasional free live streams and quick looks is enough to get people to know what this site is about. If you want more of the guys then go subscriber. It gives you a reason to do so.

I'm not saying this as a slant at non subs, I can understand and appreciate why that may be and it's fine. It just makes more business sense if they tip more towards paying subscriber content when people will complain either way and they really do need subs more than anything to even stay alive.

People don't get it yet, but the ad based business model is not enough at this level anymore. You need more to pay for what these guys do. It's just the reality of todays market running a website that requires personality and video based content.

If I exclude trailers, first page of video has 9 free things vs. 4 subscriber things. And this is after Quick Look season.

Page two is 10 vs. 4. Page three is 12 vs. 5. Over twice as many free videos on a consistent basis. Seems like an ok ratio to me, I dunno.

Personally, even though I'm not currently a subscriber at the moment, I think GB has the best balance between premium and non-premium content they've ever had. No subs get our Quick Looks, Bombin, Event Livestreams and the Bombcast, subs get occasional Access to the staff and Lulz for their money. Seems to fair to me.

I do think their old premium show lineup was stronger than (Load our Last Save, Flight Club, TANG, TnT etc) what they have right now, but that's probably cyclical.

As someone whose been a premium subscriber for a long time (and has credit for another year), I do sometimes feel like more stuff should be free. Metal Gear Scanlon is like essential viewing, it's lame that that's locked behind a paywall. And I feel like a lot of smaller games that would've had Quick Looks in the past get played on Unprofessional Fridays now.

That being said, it's only 5 bucks for a monthly subscription, and you don't have to auto renew. So even if you don't have a lot of money, you can probably afford to get a monthly every once in a while and catch up on the new stuff. It's worth it.

It seems most people are forgetting that the wiki is a huge chunk of content available for everybody. And one of the main reasons the site was started in the first place.

TANG isn't Premium and TnT was on Twitch 98% of the time.

If it’s not been said before, GB are also pushing the premium membership sale at the moment so they are likely to have more premium stuff on the site.

The only thing that really saddens me, after all the gross ads that make the site really ugly, is the fact that they basically paywalled endurance runs after saying they wouldn't. But hey, that's up to them to do, not me.

For ages people bitched that there wasn't enough subscriber content, now it's too much? lol.

It sure is glorious to be a subscriber! Hmm...Maybe I should up my subscription.

Thanx for sharing your thoughts. As I mentioned earlier, I was not really referring to content. I totally get why some content must be behing a paywall and that's all good. I was trying to refer to the visual space left for non subscriber coming in the website (obsviously, it didn't get through). I apologize for the confusion. I feel like not only most of the site is covered in ads or buttons to subscribe, but lots of content is also displayed as "premium" content. Anyway, not complaining about the content...more what the site looks like nowadays.

I find it very ironic that this month of all months is the one where a thread about the supposedly lack of non-premium content pops up.

Game of the Year awards anyone?

edit: FLStyle said it better...

edit #2:

That 96 hour stream was free

@trafalgarlaw: TNT was never something to look forward to.

What are you talking about? There are no Endurance Runs. Not a single one.

And even if there were, are you really going to be upset that you'd have to pay to see it? Come on.

If Quick Looks start becoming Premium content you have an argument, but this is none.

I think the ratio between premium and non-premium content seems fine. Now I am a premium member myself so that might be easier for me to say than those that aren't. But they still put out a lot of quick looks and you still get the bombcast as a non-premium member. The reason why I pay for premium is because I like the premium content more and I also love this site and would love to support it so they can keep doing stupid shit. But I also see why they need money to keep doing the premium stuff. I come to this site for the personalities but I understand it would be difficult, from a financial perspective, to run a video game site where you wouldn't cover the newest games. So they use quick looks to look at the new games and generate some traffic and they can do those for free because people want to see the newest games so that makes since. But all the random crap they do, which is what I love the most, wouldn't make sense to do for free. Not from a financial perspective, they have to take time out of their calender to do stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the newest games and it takes time away from producing QL's or reviews.

Anything that isn't about the newest games is basically off-topic and it wouldn't make sense for them to make off-topic videos for free. If GB were to be a completely free site again I think that would mean loosing a lot of the off-topic videos that have come to define this site for me. I'm completely fine paying one yearly fee so GB can do more dumb shit. The reason why I like GB is because of its personality but you can't run a video game site build on personality for free.

@nashvilleskyline said:

As some others have mentioned, that upper region of "blocks" will try to cycle-in content dynamically based on what you have already viewed. The issue you're experiencing is likely because you have already viewed almost all of the recent non-subscriber content, you greedy greedy boy ;-)

Why do people keep forgetting that endurance runs were daily content? And that endurance runs had specific rules?