How does ad generated revenue actually work on websites?

I assume companies have to pay some kind of fee to get their ads on the site in the first place, but after that is any more revenue generated if I don't actually click through any of them?

I don't know, magnets make more fucking sense.

Apparently just the fact that AD #1 is on PAGE X and PAGE X is viewed by Y number of people, that means the product of that ad gets more sales.

So if the giant bomb homepage gets 2 million visits a month, and an ad for coka cola is on there, that means a fraction of those 2 mil views are people who will GO OUT AND BUY COKE because they saw the ad on the page, even though they fucking hated having an ad on there.

Why am I pissed? Because fucking magnets, how do they work?!!!!!!!!!!

Depends on the ad model. Some pay for clicks and others just for impression which is when an user views it.

Yep. I think it is basically that they get paid a certain amount for each individual pageview and more if people actually click on the ad and go through.

@jouseldelka it hasn't got anything to do with sales of the product in question.

Advertising at its most basic level is about getting the name of a product and an idea of what it stands for into your head. So an ad for a drink doesn't work by making people rush out to buy the drink on seeing the ad. The brand gets in your head and next time you are thirsty and standing in front of a fridge in the shop, you are more likely to try it out.

and thats what i mean by sales brah

There are a few different models but the gist of it is that an ad company gets ad space on a website. Then, people see that ad.

Sometimes, the website gets paid because a million people simply saw that ad (presumably - most people don't actually pay much attention to the ad). Sometimes, the website doesn't get paid unless people click on that ad. Getting a name in people's minds is the idea. Sure, only a small fraction of the audience will want Coke upon seeing the ad, but a bigger fraction will have the name "Coke" burned into their heads and people are more likely to stick with what they've heard of.

Ah ok. I use Adblock because I find ads obnoxious, intrusive and distracting when I'm trying to read/watch something. Was just wondering if it made any difference to the revenue stream if I wasn't going to click on any of them anyway.

I'd be curious to see the numbers on how effective the model is at a) generating revenue for the site, and b) boosting the sales of the product or service being advertised. Really doesn't seem like it'd be that effective in the long run, but then again what do I know!

This is basically the case for most sites. CPM is the standard measurement for most ad campaigns: you pay a certain rate to have your ad shown to 1,000 people, and that rate varies based on how attractive the demographics of that group are to the advertiser. (Sometimes very popular shows get cancelled in favor of shows that have smaller audiences, for instance, solely because shows that appeal to older viewers are less valuable to advertisers than those that appeal to people in the 18-30 age range, who spend more money on stuff.) Getting people to actually click on the ad is valuable, of course, but it's often not the primary goal.

Motivations for advertising are often pretty odd, though. I read somewhere that a certain portion of luxury car advertising isn't actually intended to draw in new customers, but rather to make existing customers feel satisfied with their purchase and more likely to stick with the car brand in the future. Advertising's a curious thing.

If a site uses Google Adsense the clicks are what is worth the most. Bigger sites usually sell adspace directly themself for a fixed price.

http://www.cbsinteractive.com/advertise/self-service-campaign/info/?site=giantbomb.com

cbsi needs better geo targeting, their prices are decent but they don't have my city (Canada).

I was just try to point out the difference between directly selling something - i.e. making someone buy a coke when they didn't even think they were thirsty - and brand changing - influencing someone to buy a coke when they were already in the market for a drink.

Maybe you were just messing about but you seemed confused about how advertising worked online, and what was the point of it in general - I was just trying to explain. Basically Giant Bomb gets paid so long as the ads show alongside their content. The advertised products don't have to increase in sales.

Apologies if I sound really patronising, I couldn't tell if you were just exaggerating your incomprehension for effect or you are really after some explanation.