fckgw 2 days ago

Do you have your adblocker on?

The video is simply a small form of content that they can run video pre-roll ads on. There's like 3 or 4 total on the site, all many years old at this point. The only reason they exist is to fulfill a specific type of advertising method on the site.

If you turn off your adblocker you'll see what I mean.

Furozq 2 days ago

That's almost certainly a prepaid impression deal that never got fully delivered. game flopped commercially so the traffic never burned through the contract. cheaper for ars to just keep running it than to renegotiate

  • ex-aws-dude 2 days ago

    Would it be click through rather than impression?

    I don't see how impressions would be hard to burn through

    I guess unless it were targeted too narrowly for the site's audience

    • chrisjj 2 days ago

      > I don't see how impressions would be hard to burn through

      It would only take a drop in Ars traffic since the sale. Such as if traffic followed quality...

  • chrisjj 2 days ago

    And cheap is the look, too.

    If Ars /is/ saving money by not reselling that space, I assume Ars is having a hard time selling its space.