io9
It's been nearly a month since io9 lowered its shields and initiated signal transmission. Now we want to know more about you, our readers. We've posted a brief demographic survey to harvest your innermost thoughts — but we don't want to know anything privacy-invading like your address or phone number. If you fill it out, you will be entered to win some credits with Amazon. So what will we do with the information on this survey, other than feed it to our machine overlords?
Well, basically, here's the deal. io9 is free to you because advertisers are going to start buying ads that will run on the site. You already knew this, so don't act all shocked. Usually advertisers want to know who the audience is that they're reaching with their ads — that helps them decide if they want to give us money to run their ads. So, in part, the demographic information is for advertisers (minus your names and email addresses, which we don't give out to anybody). So if you like io9 and want us to keep zooming, please support us by filling out the survey.
It may not make sense, but it is the way of consumer capitalism, my humanoids. In this region of this planet, it is our way of allocating resources — though many of our wise ones believe it will not always be. Still, it is how your friendly editors and writers at io9 are compensated for their labor, and earn money for spaghetti.
And so, take the freakin survey people. Jeez.
Comments
Truth be told, I don't look at the ads. I don't look at ads on web sites, in magazines, and I watch them on TV only when I find them humorous. I've never bought anything because of an advertisement.
If the advertisers want to know the most important demographic, here it is: the readers of io9 like science fiction. There. Not too hard is it?
Done button at the end of the survey does not let out back into io9 like it says it does, but goes to a commercial site for SurveyMonkey with no way to get out of it. Boo, io9!!! Boo!!!
Once in while I'll notice an ad, if it has a crazy monkey in it. And sometimes I just click an ad because I like to support the site and know they have ads that are click-dependant. Otherwise I have developed an ad filter--I just ignore them.
I sometimes look at ads. It depends. I usually only block the animated ones with the flashing colors, because it is annoying. I can ignore a simple animation or a static image if it doesn't interest me. If it is the kind that starts playing noise as soon as its loaded, I also block it.
Just for fun, I shuffled the sentences around. (Actually, I'm too lazy to change it to flow better.)
My demographic keeps creeping up. I don't think I'm in a desierable age bracket anymore.
*sniffles*
gawker sites are always littered with gawker artist ads, that and they love intra-gawker links and roundups.
Gawker has some entertaining sites!
Happy to help by taking the survey in return, and you are welcome to my many many clicks...but I'm not shutting off my ad blockers, sorry about that.
@BBanzai: Argh -- will get this fixed. Sorry!
I apologize everyone. I buy things that I see in ads. I download songs that I first hear in ads (although not Feist, I'm not that bad.) I'm a sucker. You tag "New & Improved" or "X-treme New Flava" on there and I succumb. (Mojito Mint Orbitz? Redundant...yet intriguing!)
You tell me about a double-cheeseburger on the $1 menu until Thursday using stupid gossiping flirtatious food? I'm there before Thursday (and I'll buy a milkshake too, because hell, the burger was just $1!!!!)
All this crap you're stuck with around you? It's because of me and my ilk.
So, yeah, I filled out the survey, and I'll see the ads too. And then I'll buy, buy, buy....
*hangs head in shame*
@92BuickLeSabre: Thank god for you!
If it weren't for people like you, advertisers wouldn't put banner ads up at all, and the rest of us would have to pay to read this site.
Do not be ashamed! You are like a river to your people!
Can all the ads feature Hugo Weaving?
If the ads on the site advertise something sciencey or fictiony (or ideally a mixture of both) they might get my attention. However if it's just getting a bigger penis, hormones to attract women or an animated gif conveying something rather daft and uninteresting... meh. I'll scroll past and read the meat of the article.
I click on things all the time! I buy stuff on impulse! I am your demographic!
(io9, I love you. I hope those few ad-nay-sayers will at least put on a pretty face for the sake of keeping you alive.)
@92BuickLeSabre: I buy things I see in ads too -- but usually only when they're pretty targeted. Like: I'm looking for a VHS to DVD converter, I search online, I see an ad for a good one, I buy it.
Speaking of which, anybody have good recommendations for a VHS to DVD converter?
Brief and quite possibly painless. But I suspect there will be some "creative" responses.
@Annalee: what's a vhs?
@tetracycloide: An acronym for "video home system," it is a primitive magnetic storage technology popular in the late twentieth century for preserving audiovisual media. In the early twenty-first century, it fell out of use but became popular among a small subset of users who lionized it for a lack of "digital restriction management," a primitive form of copy protection . . .
@Annalee: apparently i'm not very funny
@Annalee: No, no. You're thinking of "Betamax." They kno't make those any more, either, though.
@Annalee: Ahh yes, transport mechanisms in everything!
Interesting era!
@tetracycloide: :)
@braak: ??? What the hell does kno't mean?
Given all the build up, I expected a heck of a lot more than 4 questions. Submission complete, you may now assimilate me ;-)
I hope my response contribute to ads for hot babes in unitards. Not that I ever shop at American Apparel, but they're nice to look at.
I hope you report the demographics to us, too! It'd be interesting.
@lizhenry: I'll see what I can do! I wish they'd given us more than two options for gender because I can never figure out what genders "floop" and "zappa" are.
@lizhenry: If the same survey done on Consumerist is any indication, I wouldn't expect it.
@Annalee: No disrespect intended. :)
Wait, are there ads in io9 now? I don't see any, ever. Is that because of my Firefox plugins? Am I missing out on some good ads?
@zeppelined: I think the only unblocked ones I see are when they take over the masthead and integrate the ad into the site design.
Over on Consumerist (My regular haunt) and Jezebel (My irregular haunt), the only ads I ever noticed and cared for was Guanabee, cause its like Jezebel but more Spanishy :P
How bout you guys get MakeZine or Oriely to advertise here.
adblock plus baby :D
But I did take the survey, it took but a moment of my time.
@zeppelined: Was thinking the same thing.
I never click on ads - ones that I can see, that is :) I don't think advertising works on me.
I don't mind the survery, but it's pretty superficial. I mean... Age and gender. Bleh.
For the record, I am 31. I am a male-to-female, post-op transsexual. Umm. I'm a mostly lesbian bisexual. I generally block ads, but if they aren't horribly annoying, I don't usually bother. But I've never seen anything in an ad on a weblog that was even remotely interesting; I guess the answer is 'As a gamer geek lesbian sci-fi fan, I don't match your advertising demographic'... Which is odd on a site about sci-fi. ;)
One would have though that advertisers targeting special sub-cultural hangouts like Io9 would be a little more specific in their questionaire.
Either they believe that the average net-sawy user is comparable to the average consumer [they would be mistaken] or, they understand that most of their ads will be totally ignored, in which case they're basically handing Gawker some money, which is nice.
I need to start myself a blog. Get that cash flow.
Hmm...what would my theme be?
Hot, nekkid people rocking out on guitars in showers?...nah, that's been done.
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