Do You Read "Win $xxxx In This Thread" Threads?

[BoyAlley]

Ok, I admit, I never ever read those "Win $xxxx In This Thread" threads. My eyes just automatically skim right past them and I never even give the announcements that they contain a chance.

That being said, they still seem to be the primary means sponsors are using on the boards to generate pr.

I tend to be weird anyway, so I was wondering if others are the same or if I'm just being odd-man-out?

Are all the views these threads create just from contest whores and postbots, or are real webmasters reading them?

[TurboAngel]

Sometimes I read them

[Dirty F]

I hate to see it how sponsors give money away to a bunch of 16 year old cockroaches and leeches.

[BoyAlley]

Originally Posted by Franck

I hate to see it how sponsors give money away to a bunch of 16 year old cockroaches and leeches.

This post is long so I'm not going to do it all in yellow for fear of blinding people:

Well, here's how I look at it. Take WildCash's thread that's on page 1 now:

They're giving away $4,000 in it, and it's gotten about 15,000 views.

Now let's go into advertising mode for a minute:

$4,000 / 15 = $267 CPM

Can you imagine ANYWHERE that sold ads that you'd be willing to spend $267 CPM? If a site asked for that kind of money they'd get laughed at, yet when it comes to contest threads, $267 is actually really cheap compared to many that I see.

Dating Gold has one that gave away something like $7,000 with 13,000 views:

$7,000 / 13 = $539 CPM

Now, if it's a lot of unique webmasters viewing the thread, then I guess it can be justified? BUT if those views are being generated by postbots and contest whores (who as a group usually have no traffic), then seems to me that's a very ineffective use of ad dollars.

My questions is, are most sponsors doing this because it's one of the few outlets that they have to get in front of affiliates, so they have to spend the money regardless of the economics?

I'm trying to understand why sponsors have moved away from spending their money on sigwhores to spending it on contests? I've spent a good bit on sigwhores in the past, and found the ROI to be tremendous, and the CPM is WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY lower?

Or, even forgetting about contest threads and sig whores:

Why are sponsors in adult, as a whole, less creative when it comes to spending ad dollars than mainstream companies are, who tend come up with really cool and outside of the box campaigns on a regular basis?

[Klen]

Boyalley,you forget one thing:when someone earn let's say 20$ on contest,he cant get that money beacuse is minimum payout 50$.So he need to bring sales to sponsor,and he would probaly send again sales.Having a contest is gamble,but sometime that is best way to get new affiliates fast.

[Andiz]

Never ever.......only sigwhores+postbots there

[Dirty F]

Originally Posted by KlenTelaris

Boyalley,you forget one thing:when someone earn let's say 20$ on contest,he cant get that money beacuse is minimum payout 50$.So he need to bring sales to sponsor,and he would probaly send again sales.Having a contest is gamble,but sometime that is best way to get new affiliates fast.

Only a few sponsors do that. Most dont.

[Matt 26z]

The purpose of contest threads is to offer posters an incentive to post, which then keeps the thread at the top of GFY, which in turn guarantees more views of the announcement contained within.

If sponsors were not getting new webmaster signups or increased traffic as a result of these endlessly bumped announcement threads, the same companies wouldn't be doing it again and again.

[BoyAlley]

Originally Posted by Matt 26z

The purpose of contest threads is to offer posters an incentive to post, which then keeps the thread at the top of GFY, which in turn guarantees more views of the announcement contained within.

If sponsors were not getting new webmaster signups or increased traffic as a result of these endlessly bumped announcement threads, the same companies wouldn't be doing it again and again.

Yes, I understand the concept behind them and the dynamic of contest threads.

My question is, are the same companies doing the contest threads over and over because of lack of alternative and/or creativity on the part of their marketing department?

Sure, we all know getting just a couple of solid affiliates sending new or additional traffic can pay for these types of promotions, obviously.

But my gut's telling me this practice continues not because it's the most effective way out there of gathering affiliates and increasing traffic, but because it's just "how it's done".

I guess it's because I was in mainstream so long, coming into this industry some things just never made much sense to me.

[BoyAlley]

Originally Posted by Franck

Only a few sponsors do that. Most dont.

I agree, I rarely see that, and when that's the case, the thread usually gets even less attention.

[Jon Clark - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Originally Posted by BoyAlley

Ok, I admit, I never ever read those "Win $xxxx In This Thread" threads. My eyes just automatically skim right past them and I never even give the announcements that they contain a chance.

That being said, they still seem to be the primary means sponsors are using on the boards to generate pr.

I tend to be weird anyway, so I was wondering if others are the same or if I'm just being odd-man-out?

Are all the views these threads create just from contest whores and postbots, or are real webmasters reading them?

STFU you POS, stop trying to act like your something your not, you have prooved to this whole board that you are nothing nut a little drama queen weesle!

[thricer]

Yes, I read them all the time and try to take monies. Is that bad?

[marko13]

i read them and i try to make money.... and i notice that it is very unproductive for me... i focus on mine work and get fun sometimes when i see some contest thread...

[tranza]

Nope, I never read it also...

[notabook]

I've read maybe two or three, usually I just block them out.

[ForteCash]

Sometimes, most of the time however its just a bullshit attention game. kind of like the game I play on a daily basis

[polish_aristocrat]

Originally Posted by notabook

I've read maybe two or three, usually I just block them out.

how do you block a thread from never seeing it again?