How does Giantbomb make money?

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bigdaddyjack21

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#1  Edited By bigdaddyjack21

Hearing that EGM a publication that I read for years has gone under got me worried about Giantbomb. How does this site make money all I have seen is the Gears of War 2 commercial on the site. Could Giantbomb be next.

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mike

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#2  Edited By mike

Check out this article from Jeff about how Giant Bomb is going to handle advertising, that will answer your questions.

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/giant-bomb-sells-out/409/

In addition, there is a Giant Bomb Store where you can show your support by buying bad ass shirts and what not.

A third option would be sending small, unmarked US Dollars directly to me. 

Added by Jeff on Oct. 23, 2008250 comments
It's been a little while since I checked in with you on our plans for advertising. Actually, I guess it's more of a plan to keep the lights on and keep Giant Bomb up and running by ensuring that we've got some money coming in.

Well, today is the day that we can say that there's some money coming through the door. Today's the day that you can find a bit of advertising around the site in the form of an MPU--that's the secret codeword that means "Flash-based rectangle that wants you to buy or do something."

But you won't actually see that ad too often. Part of our philosophy here is that the ads will be a little more effective if they aren't completely frustrating and obtrusive. So we aren't stickering up every single corner of the site with boxes and animated men with chainsaw-guns saying "Pardon me, have you heard of this Gears of the War 2 video game we're releasing next month?!!?!?!" Instead, it seems like a tasteful reminder that says "excuse me, not to interrupt, but I felt you should know about the ongoing conflict between the humans and the Locust over on planet Sera."

You'll see any given ad on the site no more than a few times a day--and then it simply won't appear for the rest of that day. Furthermore, our plan states that less than 40 percent of our pages will have ads on them at all. Though, considering the current state of the economy and how that's impacting the advertising market, I don't expect we'll actually hit that 40 percent mark anytime soon.

As for our involvement in the ad process, it's limited to absolute veto power. All of the advertising will cross through us before it goes onto the site, and if there's something we're not comfortable with, like an awful game or ugly, noisy ads or something, we intend to shoot it down.

We also have a few more ideas on money and ways you can help keep us in business that we'll be looking at in the coming months, including merchandise. Actually, I'm staring at a box full of hoodies with Luchadeer on the back right now. I should probably figure out what we're going to do with those... hmm...

Anyway, before I get too far off-topic here, I'll just close by saying that we've spent a lot of time formulating plans to ensure that we can run ads on this site and cover our costs without ruining the site in the process. That said, we definitely value your feedback on this stuff. If the advertising is way too crazy for you--or if you think we're handling it properly--let us know.  Thanks.
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BiffMcBlumpkin

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#3  Edited By BiffMcBlumpkin

Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was.

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Arkthemaniac

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#4  Edited By Arkthemaniac
BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."
Swear to God, you're gonna give me a laughernia.
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Edgar

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#5  Edited By Edgar
BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."
I was going to say that MB is right, but yeah. This is definitely it. /thread
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RetroIce4

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#6  Edited By RetroIce4
BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."
FO, REAL?... seriously?
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daniel_beck_90

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#7  Edited By daniel_beck_90
Arkthemaniac said:
"BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."
Swear to God, you're gonna give me a laughernia."
 BiffMcBlumpkin is really funny

RetroIce4 said:
"BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."
FO, REAL?... seriously?"
  lol , no sir , it is just another funny joke from  BiffMcBlumpkin .


I hope Giant Bomb get more and more secure , I love this website and I know the fact that Giant Bomb is a Wiki website means the crew spend a lot of money regularly   just for bandwidth . I hope they use more ads .

Giant Bomb Crew : We do not mind ads , fill your site with as much ads as you want


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vinny

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#8  Edited By vinny
BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"Vinny worked for Antique's Roadshow but they shitcanned him because he was way, way too flamboyant and he refused to give out any value less than "priceless." Brad worked in a grocery store putting price tags on canned goods and Ryan worked as a real estate appraiser and coincidentally they were fired for the exact same reason Vinny was."

Oh. My. Gawd. This post is absolutely priceless!
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BiffMcBlumpkin

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#9  Edited By BiffMcBlumpkin

At auction it would go for a minimum of absolutely delicious!

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drakesfortune

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#10  Edited By drakesfortune

Note to the GiantBomb guys, not everyone feels like advertising is dirty.  If you guys want to make a strong business, advertise.  I do not want to see GiantBomb go the way of 1up, so please...PLEASE make some smart fucking decisions and don't be afraid to put up some ads to keep the lights on.  We all want the damned things to work, and we want your content, so sell the fucking ad space already.  Please. 

I'm so sick of seeing indy (read good) gaming sites, good bands, good movies do poorly and end in financial ruin because the producers of that content feel that advertising is somehow dirty.  It's not, it's how you pay for all of that good content, and you're risking all by not embracing it in smart and effective ways.  So please, just fucking sell the ad space and keep this shit going, because it's good, and you've got to have a good business plan or you're screwing yourselves and your fanbase over.

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TrashMustache

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#11  Edited By TrashMustache

giant bomb and it's staff is the shit, hands down.  Bombcast's are like a part of my life dude!

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jakob187

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#12  Edited By jakob187
BiffMcBlumpkin said:
"At auction it would go for a minimum of absolutely delicious!"
Um, no.  Vinny has already appraised it as "absolutely priceless", sir.  Who do you think you are to trump his appraisal?
As for all the ad space talk...look, it's whatever.  As long as they aren't intrusive, I don't give a damn.  Then again, I don't own and/or run GB, so it doesn't matter if I give a damn or not.  =  /  Nonetheless, skin the entire front page to look like "insert newest game coming out here".  I don't care.  GS did that all the time, and I didn't mind it.  Actually, it was an interesting look every time, and I found myself coming to the site just to see if a new skin was up.  lol

I know the GB staff have this under control, so whatever.  Therefore, I'm pretty sure this thread only exists for Biff to make witty quips.