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.
Thank you for your efforts! Happy Holidays!
I’ve never seen a newspaper make such a commitment to its readers. Bravo! We’ve learned so much about Mexico since you’ve launched your one of a kind product. So much so that we felt it a privilege to become a “paid” subscriber. As hard as you, your staff, and your contributors work, it’s a pleasure to support this amazing effort. I’ve not seen any product as informative, robust, and affordable. It seems new columns of interest just keep on coming. And this latest announcement is no exception. Now with podcasts that provide real insight into the life and considerations of expats. We’re hopeful all readers continue to recommend MND to their friends and consider paying a the relatively small price for we receive. Merry Christmas to you and your staff, and here’s hoping an ever expanding readership enables you to draw a well served salary in the coming year!
Thank you MND!
That is so great and speaks volumes about your commitment to your readers. Thank you Travis and Tamanna!
This is such great news from MND! Too bad others do not follow. I remember seeing Mexico News Daily as a printed broadsheet when I lived in Mexico City in the early 70s. Whenever I traveled back I hoped the local kiosk had a stack of them for we gringos. Although I haven’t returned to Mexico since 2007, MND is still a must have for me. Hopefully this upcoming May-June I.will return to Mexico City to visit friends in Santa María la Ribera.
great news but a real commitment for you. your subscription is well worth it. thanks
Thank you. This publication improved in countless ways when you took over. Keep up the great work. And as a publisher myself, I understand the need for ads. But as a reader I appreciate the discernment of them.
Guau! I whole heartedly concurr with all of the above affirmative comments. Thank you to all
Feliz navidad!
Thanks for the good work, and happy to pay the annual bill to avoid seeing ads.
You are a brave pioneer in the world of digital news. Thank you for putting readers first. I hope other media companies follow your lead and example. I’ve seen the MND stories improve over the past few years. The news stories are accurate and informative. The features are interesting and entertaining, and there is solid how-to information for people in Mexico or traveling there. I’m happy – in fact I feel fortunate- to pay a subscription for news that is important to me and the world. Keep going!
Thank you so much for this clarifying information and balanced journalism. You are doing a wonderful job providing us with your excellent reporting and I’m happy to pay for a subscription. As a Californian who lives Mexico, it is a privilege to have MND!
Wow. Bueno!
Good job you guys! I became a paid subscriber I think about 2 years ago, ads didn’t really bother me, I know how to scroll down and ignore them but I can see how it could affect other users and how the ads can guide viewers down a rabbit hole. I notice also no ads preceding the videos on Youtube as well. Hopefully you will be getting more paid subscribers to make up for the loss of ad revenue.
A great decision and I admire your courage. Before you took over logging in was a challenge and then of course there were the ads!
I have 2 other subscription sites from Canada and it is a real challenge to follow my stories and God help you if you hit on an ad and as you say “go down a rabbit hole”. It is refreshing to see that there is some professionalism left in the industry!
Thank you so much for this! I know what a hard decision that was but what a wonderful example you are setting for the entire media world! And yes, it makes the readers experience so much nicer! Bravo!
Thank you for being a publisher who cares about your readers more than the easiest ways to make money — very admirable!
I will keep subscribing and encouraging others to as well (I’ve introduced MND to at least a couple of new subscribers).
Good on you to ban adverts. With Monty Python who needs Spam adverts.
I am very willing to pay a (slightly) increased subscription to MND to go ad free.
Ray
and a very continuingly successful 2025
I must admit, as a piad subscriber, I never really noticed the ads. Perhaps it is worse for non-subs. I appreciate your commitment to publishing a quality product and taking care of your customers. I only get my news from a few select sources; BBC, Reuters, DW, Al Jazeera, Tangle and MND (business trades & WSJ for work). I value MND and feel the price paid is very fair, especially with the new deep dive series on Sundays. Add Sarah’s writings, the great history pieces, Mananera coverage and the Taste of Mexico, and it’s a downright bargain. Like most people, I am tired of the cost of everything going up. However, if necessary, a modest increase would probably be acceptable to most subscribers, knowing how much you have put into creating the quality product you put out daily.
I’m a paid subscriber and a part time resident of Mexico. I open MND pretty much every day and learn a lot about Mexico through it. I’m also not very price sensitive, so if paid subscriptions is the only source of revenue I understand that the price might need to go up, and perhaps way up. OK for me. The only thing that would make me cancel is leftism seeping into the articles, including victim mentality. In fact I’d rather have ads than a leftist bias. I actually don’t remember seeing ads but a few lefty articles have been a big turn off.
I’m also the admin for a Mexico whatsapp chat group with a couple hundred members. I regularly post MND articles in that chat group and encourage subscribing, and several have. The mix of news and articles on MND is great and I hope to be a paid subscriber for a long time!
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough enterprisers who have your sense of commitment to take on this approach for their customers. Congratulations and please do keep it up. FELIZ NAVIDAD!