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How Would You Run WGT?

• Joeyola 1,210 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 4:23 PM

  neildiamond11790:

  Cant really support the be straight with customers thing in regards to letting them know what they are getting into.  You can be competitive with the freebies, against other people playing freebies, or if you are really that good.  To prepare them for the entire game, who would sit through to sign up?  Its kind of like scaring them off before they even have a chance to try it.

  Like the others though.  Any thoughts on revenue?

  In your OP, you said "Be the CEO people."  

  I kept that in mind when writing my post...as the CEO looking at all the frustration in the forums, and assuming this can't be good for my business, I'd make a bigger effort to help new customers understand what this site is all about...at least before setting the hook.  I know we are talking about marketing, selling a product and making money...and yes, its possible we could scare some people off if we are too honest in the process...but in the long run, I'd like to believe more people will stay if they knew what they were getting into. 

  I suspect the players that enjoy this site for free, are not to ones doing most of the complaining.         

  Joey 

   

• Richard4168 4,309 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 4:40 PM

  danohi50:

  Bring it on  lol

  LOL!! I guess I should've rephrased the question Dan.  : ) 

  The answer is an emphatic yes. But I believe WGT would say, we're doing good with current ad sales revenue, with additional future ad revenue coming soon.

• EdwardRo 191 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 5:33 PM

  I say place all the adds on the loadup screen that last maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute before we get to choosing our rounds or before we start the round, make it simple where we are unable to start the round untill the 30 second or 1 minute adds have run.   would be a start for me

   

• andypat 453 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 5:48 PM

  1st thing I would do is invest in some servers rather than use a rented crap server

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 6:00 PM

  Interesting news item for the new CEO who might think that ad revenues are chicken feed:

  Online advertising catches up to newspapers in 2010

  "Reuters: Dec. 20, 2010 - Now comes word from the research firm eMarketer that online advertising in the U.S. is expected to outgun newspaper advertising in 2010. For the year, online ad spending is expected to rise about 14 percent to $25.8 billion, while print advertising spending in newspapers is expected to decline about 8 percent to $22.8 billion."

  Companies spent $25.8 billion advertising on the internet in 2010.  That ain't chump change!  So don't underestimate the potential for advertising revenue at WGT.

  
  

  Also, if I were CEO I'd crank up the VEM to unheard of levels for those users detected using ad blockers.  I might even shrink their cup by 1/2 inch too!  

• stencil 455 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 6:19 PM

  Richard4168:

  Lee, it seems you summed it all up in a nut-shell.

  If WGT wants to increase revenue, increase members. WGT should be buying TV air-time, and posting bill-boards in a country-wide campaign. This would get the remaining people out from between the cracks. Membership would grow to four million by summertime.

  On a side note, if you were to ask WGT if they were in need of ad dollars, what would they say?

  Don't you get Richard that we consumers don't make more than a minute amount of profit  for WGT. So your bill boards and TV ads and country wide campaigns are no good. They are in no need for more members. No they are not going to shun them away but they aren't going to spend out there tails for them which they would be doing in billboards TV ads and country wide campaigns.

  WGT makes profit by people paying them to advertise their product. So these ads are basically the main part of WGT's product. Right now I have 1 ad on my page the axe games one. But there are 6 inches of space under the post button. That needs to be PACKED with ads.

  So i say ad the crap out of us WGT

  Stencil

   

• Yappy22 733 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 7:01 PM

  If they don't make money we don't play......Bring on the ads!!!! Then if they don't continue to make improvement's...upgrade servers, add courses ect. then we have a right to complain.

• Richard4168 4,309 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 7:01 PM

  Stencil, keep in mind WGT doesn't make a whole lot of money from people clicking and buying products. They make their money selling the ad space like you mention. Also, WGT makes their revenue from new members, each one that signs-up is spending eventually. It makes sense for WGT to wage a ad campaign to reel-in those new members. You're right though, the tenured player isn't much of a revenue maker for WGT. Their just pushing credits back and forth between WGT with no new revenue.

  ---------------------------------------------------

  Andy, that's old news. I hope WGT does sell more ad space to generate new revenue. You may not have a problem with flash-ads slowing the game down for you, but some members do. We'll be blocking those new ads with Flashblock for Firefox, purely by choice.

  I'm not against the ads at WGT whatsoever. The ads will always be there for people to view, if they want too. Keep in mind, Flashblock is nothing like adblock. All someone who uses Flashblock has to do is hover the mouse pointer over the lower-case (f) and the tool-tip will tell you what the ad is. If you want to buy that product, simply click the lower-case (f) and proceed to the web site to make your purchase. Otherwise, leave the flash-ad blocked, and enjoy smooth game-play.

  Are members shopping for products at WGT.com, or are they playing golf?

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 7:36 PM

  Richard4168:

  keep in mind WGT doesn't make a whole lot of money from people clicking and buying products. They make their money selling the ad space like you mention.

  Rich, a CEO should know more about internet advertising revenue.  We don't need to click on an ad for WGT to get revenue.  We merely need to be on a page that displays the ad.  That is an ad rate known as CPM, cost per thousand (M) impressions.  An ad blocker steals blocks that revenue from WGT when the ad is not displayed.

  I also see no evidence that the ad displayed on the scorecard affects the meter smoothness in any way. 

  Could be the ad blocker, because it is working behind the scene in the game window itself, actually uses CPU resources and increases the likely hood of a stutter.

• Richard4168 4,309 Posts

  Tue, Dec 21 2010 8:04 PM

  Flashblock blocks all things flash on the whole page freeing-up resources whether you want to believe it or not. You do research on everything else Andy, research Flashblock and you'll see there is no resources being used by the CPU when running Flashblock. BTW, my meter is flawless.

  You make your ridiculous case about how Flashblock steals money from WGT, and I'll make my case how Flashblock helps members have a better playing experience using Flashblock. Let the members make their own choice Andy. If you don't like to block flash-ads, then don't. WGT will do just fine either way.

  You make it sound like WGT is going to go out of business if one person uses Flashblock for Firefox.