Poly Haven
patreon
Should we display ads on HDRI Haven?
🕑 Added 2020-05-25 15:16:30 +0000 UTCHey all, I've done some research into the possibility of displaying a few unobtrusive ads on HDRI Haven using Google AdSense.
Before you throw me under the bus, understand this is just an idea and I'm now reaching out to you to hear your thoughts before proceeding with any decision.
At the moment HDRI Haven is completely ad-free. This decision was made early on for three reasons:
- I don't like ads. I use an adblocker myself, and I hate the fact that they've become the defacto monetization method for nearly everything on the internet.
- I think that if we put ads on HDRI Haven, a notable portion of newcomers will believe that this is how we earn our income, and thus be less likely to become a Patreon supporter.
- Originally I believed (based on past experience) that ads don't make a lot of money, so accepting donations on Patreon is a better way to go.
The first two reasons haven't changed, but after some research and number crunching I've estimated that displaying one or two unobtrusive banner ads on certain pages will result in approximately an additional $1000-$2000 per month from ad revenue.
Add this to the Patreon donations and that's an increase of about 50%, which would significantly help us produce higher value HDRIs and expand the platform.
For the second reason (ads discouraging donations), I think it's still valid, however we can counter it by enabling an ad-free experience for all patrons, which has been proven a successful idea in the mobile apps world (paying a small amount to remove ads). This way, I think the patrons gained from those who become a patron just to remove ads may balance out those that are lost.
Finally, if we do implement ads, there will be absolutely no attempt to discourage the use of adblockers, and the ads will be implemented in a way that does not affect performance and load times on the site. There will be no popups or ad-gates that prevent access to any content, just some simple banners or boxes that don't get in the way.
So I'm torn two ways about this.
On one hand, I hate ads, and I feel like it's an easy way to anger our community and be perceived as being greedy, which could hurt us in the long term.
On the other hand, the additional income would help us progress our craft. Sergej and Andreas are both currently experimenting with new techniques (flexible flare reduction and video backplates respectively) and these additional funds would likely help them achieve their goals.
Additionally, I'd like to hire an assistant to help us spread HDRI Haven further in the 3D community, on platforms where we're not active yet and to create a presence in communities where other immoral users are attempting to resell our free content for their own profit.
To be more specific about my plan for the extra funds: Half of it would be added directly to the patreon donations, the majority of which goes to HDRI authors which should help us produce more valuable HDRIs. The other half would be set aside for savings and hiring additional help. This is not a final decision either, so I'm keen to hear your thoughts about this in the comments below as well. Whatever we do with it, it'll of course be described in our usual monthly finance reports.
But, I've wrestled enough with this idea on my own and I'm not comfortable making the decision without your feedback. So I've decided to leave the decision up to you, my patrons.
You can vote in the poll below. The results of this poll will decide whether or not we display a small number of unobtrusive ads on HDRI Haven.
The poll will run for two weeks, after which I'll announce the results and respect your choice either way.
Please only vote if you read this post fully. Knee-jerk reactions that don't consider the arguments above are not very helpful.
Comments
Poly Haven
I pay other photographers to shoot for HDRI Haven because they go to places that I can't, and because it saves thousands of your Patreon dollars to hire someone already there instead of me traveling all the way there from South Africa, and because it gives me time to work on the project as a whole (and other projects like 3D Model Haven and Texture Haven) instead of spending all my time shooting and stitching. I published my workflow so that I can show other photographers how I do it (not that my method is perfect) and use that as a starting point for verifying their own workflow and quality of content. Honestly some of the HDRIs these guys have shot are better than what I could do, and I'm learning really cool techniques from them. Obviously none of the HDRIs are made from JPGs, I get a sample of the raw files from each one as part of the review process. If you're concerned about quality, please point out a specific HDRI that you think doesn't meet our standard and explain why. If you can find one, chances are it's one of mine. It honestly hurts me that you think this is not a passion project, I don't even know how to respond to that. If you don't believe in what we're doing, why are you a patron?
Vlad
First was buying HDRIs from other photographers. Now Ads. What next? Free HDRI heaven and your Greg's way of capture HDRI rise quality level for all commercial HDRIs. Now HDRIHeaven have a lot of HDRIs made by someone also, and no way to check what workflow they used. For free HDRIs this is not a issue if it was made from JPEGs, but for Greg's HDRI Heaven standards this just destroy of trust for quality. Now Ads... And this is already not a passion, but commercial project. Next will be marketplace? ;)
Sascha Uncia
Also thank you for consulting your patreon supporters first, it is a noble thing to do.
Sascha Uncia
I hate aggressive ads with a passion, but if you keep it unobtrusive and tasteful, It sounds acceptable. I understand that producing these HDRIs is not cheap and this could really help the project. Please police them to make sure only relevant ads are shown, I'd hate to see cringy adds for lipstick or something start showing up on HDRI Haven.
