Why The Content Locker Ad Units?

 

When HOOPSWORLD was founded in 1998, it was never meant as a commercial endeavor. We did it because we loved the game, we loved the teams and we loved being a voice in the basketball community.

Over the years we have asked more and more of our writers, and in return they expect to be paid for the work they do. Trust me; no one is making a ton of money powering this site. It is a labor of love, but there are realities.

There are costs. We have to generate revenues to cover those costs or this site and the people that power it will not exist.

To that end, we are constantly looking at ways to generate revenue with the lowest threshold of pain possible to our users.

That said, the ad market controls everything. Banners and buttons can no longer support a site, especially not one of this size. The people spending ad dollars want more intrusive and more aggressive ad units for their dollars. We can either say yes and stay in business or say no and go out of business.

The decision to install “Content Lockers” was not arrived at frivolously, and it was not arrived at out of greed, rather necessity.

We have to generate what we spend, even with USA Today behind us; we have to generate what we spend. That is basic business.

I know this decision will not set well with some of you, and that is unfortunate, but this is how it has to be.

The way the Content Lockers work is you’ll be exposed to a Two Question Survey… you’ll see that once every 72 hours. You can either answer the two questions OR you can opt to share the article socially on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

I hope you can understand what’s going on in the marketplace. I hope you’ll stay with us.

If we lose you over a brief survey, that is unfortunate, but that’s how it’s going to be going forward.

You are welcome to drop your comments to me directly at web@hoopsworld.com

Steve Kyler
Editor & Publisher
HOOPSWORLD