multiple adds on cams

If you're a Swellnet Pro subscriber, you won't see any video ads.

If you're not a subscriber, you'll see a pre-roll ad before the cam loads, and then a mid-roll ad every 60 seconds. 

We made a decision to include mid-roll ads when we redesigned the new website. The other option was to replicate other websites (ie Surfline) who show a 15 second pre-roll ad, then show 15 seconds of surfcam footage, then timeout the page - forcing you to (manually) refresh the surfcam which then repeats the process of a 15 second pre-roll ad before another 15 seconds of surfcam vision (and also cranks up the page impressions for their web stats!).

We figured that mid-rolls were less intrusive than forcing users to constantly refresh the page.

Actually, we've worked out that we can move the surfcam a little higher at our current location to get the Triggs view back. Looking to do that later this year.

Re: ads sometimes not appearing - yeah the system's not perfect (it's impossible to sell every ad impression in advance, as we don't know just how many times teach surfcam will be viewed from day to day). However, we have to monetise the surfcams - so we've got two options - either by Swellnet Pro subs, or pre-roll ads. My preference would be for everyone to subscribe and have no ads, but obviously that's not suitable for all circumstances.

"We made a decision to include mid-roll ads when we redesigned the new website. The other option was to replicate other websites (ie Surfline) who show a 15 second pre-roll ad, then show 15 seconds of surfcam footage, then timeout the page - forcing you to (manually) refresh the surfcam which then repeats the process of a 15 second pre-roll ad before another 15 seconds of surfcam vision (and also cranks up the page impressions for their web stats!)."

And that's why I very very rarely visit Surfline, you can't make a bloody move on that site without being bombarded by ads. You spend more time watching ads than content I reckon. I think Swellnet has the right mix.

Also, have you noticed that the whinging about the new SN site died off in about two weeks? I think for international viewers it's probably not worth it, but if I lived in Oz I'd probably go Swellnet pro.

Quote Zen "Also, have you noticed that the whinging about the new SN site died off in about two weeks? I think for international viewers it's probably not worth it, but if I lived in Oz I'd probably go Swellnet pro."

Yeah I here you there, but I feel living on the East coast a 16 day forecast can change dramatically compared to other Australian coast lines, ie Vic, SA, WA and also Indo regions.
I sometimes look at CW just for videos, but the written swell forecasts on CW have nothing on Bens and Craigs written forecasts IMO, SN's are well documented and more professional.
I really should not say this as this is purely a surfing site, but if SN had a SnownetPro...? I probably would get it as they would probably kick arse;) Following Mountainwatch all winter for NZ, not that great at forecasting depths as quite often would ring a good mate and find out they had 40-50cm rather than 5-10cm and that includes many other snow forecasting sites.........
Anyways SN awesome stuff great job, just stick to swell hahaha;)

Thanks for the feedback guys. Obviously the third option (re: cams) would be to make surfcams only viewable for Swellnet Pro subscribers, but I think that'd work counter-intuitively to our business model.

Unfortunately it is hard to please everyone - and we still cop the odd abusive email from punters who seem to be 'insulted' that we make them watch a 15 second ad before the live vision - but unfortunately not many people know how bloody expensive the surfcams are to purchase, install, stream and maintain. 

Welly, we've been looking at snow options for a long time and have been beavering away with an in-house forecast model but it's not quite ready to go yet. Haven't see a decent snow forecast site anywhere in the world yet so hopefully we'll get some time to activate this in the next year or so.

I'd love it if you guys got into snow forecasting.

And by the way, your reports for my neck of the woods have been spot on and the wams are pretty good for seeing what's on the way.

Thanks to you too.

thermalben wrote:

Thanks for the feedback guys. Obviously the third option (re: cams) would be to make surfcams only viewable for Swellnet Pro subscribers, but I think that'd work counter-intuitively to our business model.

Unfortunately it is hard to please everyone - and we still cop the odd abusive email from punters who seem to be 'insulted' that we make them watch a 15 second ad before the live vision - but unfortunately not many people know how bloody expensive the surfcams are to purchase, install, stream and maintain. 

Welly, we've been looking at snow options for a long time and have been beavering away with an in-house forecast model but it's not quite ready to go yet. Haven't see a decent snow forecast site anywhere in the world yet so hopefully we'll get some time to activate this in the next year or so.

Yeah I kind of had a guess at that option Ben as you said before about being a regular on the forums of snow.com. Good work, I think you guys would smash it, looking forward to that one;)
I guess they are at different realms ie Snow accumulation and Swell but with your guys experience and keen set on both I think you would go really well. Good luck may the force(cast) be with you fellas.

As for punters worried about watching ads or giving abusive emails, haha I'm sure other regulars will give them an opinion to the the least;)

My only real beef, and this applies to all advertisement supported content is when they are displayed even when the content itself is unavailable. (either geo-blocked, or for technical reasons).

The Knights surfcam had this issue, when it was operating intermittently... Getting to watch a Pre-roll ad, for the chance of looking that the surf didn't really entice me back.

Romerio wrote:

My only real beef, and this applies to all advertisement supported content is when they are displayed even when the content itself is unavailable. (either geo-blocked, or for technical reasons). The Knights surfcam had this issue, when it was operating intermittently... Getting to watch a Pre-roll ad, for the chance of looking that the surf didn't really entice me back.

Romerio - that doesn't happen on our surfcams. If a Swellnet surfcam is down, a pre-roll ad will NOT play. Try it yourself right now on our Margaret River surfcam (which is currently down but should be back later this afternoon).

http://www.swellnet.com/surfcams/margaret-river

However, I have definitely seen that issue on other surfcam websites. And I agree, it's poor form. If the content is not available, then an ad should not display (which is why we coded our website as such to reflect this thinking).

When the Knights cam was intermittently down, I remember watching adds, and then it flicking to the black screen (and it wasn't dark out :)).

Can you see an ad on the Margs surfcam right now, Romerio?

Nope, Just a black box.

That's what should have been happening at Knights during that period - and was certainly what I saw when I checked it (during any surfcam outage, I always periodically check the page to make sure that ads aren't displaying on those pages).

Not sure what you were seeing, or why, as I don't know the specific dates, however we have spent a lot of time (and development $$!) to make sure that ads don't play if a surfcam is offline. Hence the reason I'm trying to clarify the situation. It could have been a temporary ISP glitch, where the internet momentarily goes down, but our database doesn't had enough time to detect that the surfcam was "offline". Other than that I don't know - it's all performing as it should (as per the Margs cam right now).

Anyway, if you do see a surfcam offline and an ad displays beforehand, please let me know.

Will do, and Glad its taken seriously, nothing bums me out more than sitting through an Ad, and then not getting the view the content that i'd 'paid' for.

salt wrote:

I did notice that the seaford cam is down on CW, could only good for you fellas that one.

Actually, their Seaford surfcam has been 'down' for over two years. They did remove it from their website (when they relaunched a few months back) but then brought it back after a while - not sure why though if there's no live vision.

Duaranbah Surf Cam.

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