Two years ago, when we purchased Mexico News Daily, one of the first things we did was reduce the amount of advertising on the site by 70%. We didn’t make the decision because MND had more ads than other news sites, but rather because we felt that many ads, especially those that popped up or those that dragged along with you as you scrolled down, were really annoying to the reader.
From a financial perspective, it was a painful decision, as at that point more than half of MND’s total revenue came from these types of ads. As you might imagine, the ads that most annoy you are by far also the most lucrative ones. Sexual dysfunction cures, toenail fungus treatments, dietary supplements and chest-enhancing products (for men and women) are precisely the ads that make the most money. But most people don’t want to see them, and they are created in a way that is meant to get your attention and distract you from reading the article so you click on the ad.
Since day one, our mission has been to build an MND that we would be proud to have our name attached to, and that meant making the painful decision to remove the total number of ads from the site. I remember how nervous we were about the financial hit we would take when we made that decision, but we knew it was the right thing to do. We wanted to send a strong message to readers that we were serious about not only creating great content, but also an enjoyable experience for the reader. When we did it, I told the team that I hoped we would keep growing subscribers to the point at which we could eliminate ads entirely.
Since that decision, Mexico News Daily has worked with four different advertising agency partners (always using the Google Ad Manager platform), to try to improve the quality of the remaining ad blocks that we had. To say the least, it has been a very frustrating experience. Google has done an outstanding job at completely dominating the digital ad world, which results in media companies like MND (and the agencies in the industry) having to resort to increasingly (from my perspective) terrible ads to continue to earn ad revenue.
What do I mean by “terrible ads”? We have increasingly been seeing ads on our site (placed by the agencies through Google Ad Manager) that are very deliberately trying to trick the reader. Ads that say “Click here to continue” or “Click here for customer service” or “Click here for a rebate coupon.” All of these ads falsely and deliberately give the impression to our readers that they are MND ads, only to take readers to another site that tries to trick them further into giving credit card or personal information. We obviously hate those types of ads, and despite many, many attempts to block them, they keep popping up with different URLs (website addresses). It is a never-ending game of wack-a-mole and it gets more difficult each day as the ads become increasingly sophisticated, thanks to artificial intelligence tools. So as a result, we decided to take proactive action.
It is with that backdrop that we are announcing today that MND is removing all external advertisements from our site, effective today. We want to be able to control all of the content on our site and ensure that our readers are never being tricked into clicking on something that is not part of MND. Our guiding principles are a great reader experience as well as one in which our readers can trust any link on our site.
This decision, of course, is yet another financial hit to our business, as we will now be reliant exclusively on subscription revenue to pay our team members, fund our software expenses (we need over 30 back-office software subscriptions to make MND run smoothly), and invest in growth initiatives. Tamanna and I still have yet to take one peso of salary in over two years, but we are confident that this is the right strategy. There will be short-term pain, but we will continue to build a better MND.
Our team takes very seriously our role to provide you with an apolitical, unbiased, and balanced front-row seat to Mexico across our news and features sections. It is a very exciting time for the world and for Mexico, and we are honored to be a trusted, reliable source of news and information for you.
Thank you for supporting MND and please consider sharing MND with family and friends so they get to know us as well. We make a great Christmas gift! 🙂
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
Hurray for your commitment to your readers and we appreciate it. Also, the quality of the publication has increased a lot since you guys took over. But I do remember well how annoyed I was when you first took over because previously, as a subscriber, Idid not get any ads and when ownership changed hands now I did!!! But I hung in there and I’m glad I did given the improvements. I do think your article would have been a little more honest though had you mentioned this little detail.
Thank you for making this decision, you’ve made a loyal customer for years because of this. While scrolling and reading an article, sometimes I would end up clicking on an ad by accident – grrr! I really appreciate having well written English news complimented by cultural Mexican tips, for the new country I call home. Gracias!
Couldn’t agree more…thanks for the decision to remove the annoying ads. I, too, have clicked on them in error, and I appreciate your focus on building a quality product. You can count on my subscription for years to come.
I love your paper and read your articles everyday. Keep up the great reporting!
To: Travis and Tamanna Benbenek
I believe I have been a subscriber for about 4 years. I noted the fewer ads and appreciate no ads which irritate me with twinkles or flashing. My first fee was 585 pesos or about $30 USA; my renewal will be just short of $70 USA. The last year increase is substantial; the quality of the news is also substantial.
I started a small business in Wisconsin in which one of the initial decisions was whether to charge a monthly fee($250 per month to save $3000 per month) or to take a percentage/commission of each sales from manufacturers, their brokers and distributors. I made the choice to do the hard,difficult sell -to charge clients a fixed $250 per month , but to give them complete loyalty, no lies, no money under the table, not increasing invoice costs to clients, thus giving myself higher commissions. What a good decision it turned out to be.This business of over 1000 clients has integrity to the clients, and obtained rebates not only has made our company profitable, but its services are now virtually free and even profitability for most clients.
I barely trust the press/media because of who owns them(billionaires) and because of the source of their income. I became well off without selling my soul , since those who give you your revenue really own you. My clients are far better off that I am indebted to them rather than the other sources of income. MND clients are more likely to read the” truth” small “t” from your business model without advertisements than from the more expensive annual fee from your readers. I have stopped listening/reading CNN and PBS , supposedly clean sources of news because they turned the elections to Trump by asking the wrong questions, by making their coverage a “horse race” coverage versus coverage of the character of Trump, his values, his personal and political views, veracity, criminal record, assaults , words, lies, etc. These media sold hours of programs and $ from advertisers, rather than a focus on their clients, the American public. They lost their moral compass.
I add the following to this comment to you the owners. If you want to improve the credibility and print facts and small (t)ruth change the following. You already do two of these which is every article is signed and no advertisement.
I suggest every article has an email address to the writer. I have ten years of university education and 4 degrees, bright enough, and I get corrected frequently by friends and press which catch me with not quite the full “small t” truth. While this comments section might help, it would be better if there was a dynamic interchange between writer and reader. The first amendment is heavily weighted toward those who own the press! Who has freedom of the press, well its the owners who have freedom of the press. This policy of being able to send information directly to writers is one in which they can mature in their thoughts and understanding of topics written. The first amendment is a two way street. We live in a world where there are a lots of smart people (who are your readers). What I am suggestion is a little like the process Wikipedia uses to correct itself and aim for the god of Truth with a capital “T” Writers need to grow in the maturity of thought, in more presented facts, even while they are expanding the vision of readers. I am suggesting a little like Alexa and smart TV’s, they talk to each other.
I announced this on the Rosarito Living Facebook group, which has about 74k members.
感谢您做出的这个决定，我也因此选择订阅了。