Topic: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Kyle (from these hurr forums) set me down an idea path, which involves ya'll and I figure it's worth asking.

Would you be interested in the opportunity to "sponsor" particular episodes of DIF? For a twenty dollar PayPal donation, say Bob Bobbles, could get his name in front of an episode. "This episode of Down in Front brought to you by Bob Bobbles, a man so well hung his ankles are bruised." *music starts* "Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Down in Front!"

Etcetera.

We could even go back in time so that your name is on an already-released episode in perpetuity. Might have to bracket them, so it's a bit more expensive to "sponsor" the Star Wars episode than the Gremlins episode, but the same basic thing. Any time anyone plays that episode in the future (and these things do get action after their first-week, as ya'll probably know from listening to old episodes,) your name is on there. Or it could be framed as your Twitter name, for potential follower action, I guess.

Anybody interested in that kind of thing? Trying to sort out ways to turn some income around from the show, because the last thing I want us to start doing is charging to listen to it (coughRifftraxcough) and it's kind of expensive to do and maintain, not to mention hours spent for us and Matt and Holden.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Happy to donate, don't want anything for it though.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Teague wrote:

"This episode of Down in Front brought to you by Bob Bobbles, a man so well hung his ankles are bruised."

You had me at this. If you actually use lines like this, I'm for it. Dibs on Constantine.

Last edited by ShadowDuelist (2011-05-29 21:29:44)

"ShadowDuelist is a god."
        -Teague Chrystie

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

I'd really think that Netflix would be a prime sponsor. You could try doing Netflix Affiliate links, like the Amazon ones: http://ca.netflix.com/Affiliates?fcld=true

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Yeah, I've been saying that for a while, using Netflix. Well, I say a while, I mentioned it in the chatroom on the 2nd anniversary show and never mentioned it again big_smile

It's a good idea though and if I can afford to sponsor an ep, I shall.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Netflix affiliate links are really going to come down to traffic; with 169 registered users on the forum and limited regional availability, it may not generate sufficient income to support the show on its own. Are there enough downloads per week to make commercial sponsorship of episodes viable?

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

That's a good point, Fixed. I feel a bit of a tool supporting a service a lot of forum members (including myself) can't even use.

I had a blonde-guy moment......that has lasted a few months big_smile

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Not a bad idea

I'd rather hear "this episode is brought to you by shifty bench's pocket money" then what some podcasts do which is have the host read an advert for anything upto 5 minutes.

Extended Edition - 146 - The Rise Of Skywalker
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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Faldor wrote:

I'd rather hear "this episode is brought to you by shifty bench's pocket money" then what some podcasts do which is have the host read an advert for anything upto 5 minutes.

I'd rather an ad and guaranteed income for the podcast than ad-hoc donations which may stop. We'd like the show to continue right? As long as Teague doesn't go all Leo on us, it'll be fine tongue

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

NO I want the podcast to END!

No wait, that was sarcasm =P

Extended Edition - 146 - The Rise Of Skywalker
VFX Reel | Twitter | IMDB | Blog

Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Faldor wrote:

I'd rather hear "this episode is brought to you by shifty bench's pocket money"

I wish I still got pocket money big_smile

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

FixedR6 wrote:

Netflix affiliate links are really going to come down to traffic; with 169 registered users on the forum and limited regional availability, it may not generate sufficient income to support the show on its own. Are there enough downloads per week to make commercial sponsorship of episodes viable?

Short answer: Probably, but it's probably not worth it (yet).

Long answer: I would venture to guess that way less than 10% of DIF listeners have actually been to the site more than once. Most of our traffic is through iTunes/RSS/etc, which is fine, although I've been bugging Teague about trying to get more direct traffic to the site somehow.

Edit: Looked at some figures, made the percentage smaller. Also, clarification.

"Most people don't even know what sysadmins do, but trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time they wouldn't make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants."

-- http://stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks

Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

And that's just the site, not forum members. We average in the thousands and thousands of downloads for a new episode, despite our smallish forum and Twitter community size. (I'm honestly a little baffled at the wee-ness of our forum, having seen our actual numbers, but I'm just-as-honestly happy with the community of folks we have here, so I'm square with it.)

I think it just boils down to a "the small fraction of folks are vocal/social, the rest lurk" internet truism. If there were like, five or eight guys willing to do an episode or two of sponsorship here, you represent listeners a hundredfold in the silentverse. Which is promising.

*strokes chin*

EDIT: And Fixed has been an amazing, regular donater, so until further notice the show is fuckin' sponsored by him.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

No it's not - my brother will give me no end of shit if that happens. tongue

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Fine by me.  Congratulations to our first sponsor.  smile

And now along with the announcement of sponsorship, whenever that begins, just be sure to add "And if you'd like to sponsor an episode of DIF which is heard by X,000 people every single week, contact us at..."

Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Very few people ever go to the web sites of the podcasts they listen to, if I'm any example. Hell, for most content if it can come to me instead of my having to search it out I never go to the site (all the web comics I read have RSS feeds, but while I never see the ads I support them by buying their books). So, ads have to be delivered in episode. I think putting images into the podcast over the audio pitch is the best format, say a series of pics of Dorkman toasting the audience and downing a refreshing beverage made by the sponsor. You could really get creative there, even tying it in with that weeks movie.

For something you could sell that would be almost all profit, if you have the web video of your various recording sessions saved somewhere you could always toss the files on a DVD and charge $30 for however many episodes you can cram on there.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

A DVD would be an interesting idea, but are people really going to go for it when they can just download those episodes in higher quality for free?

Instead, you should find some movies in the public domain (Plan 9? House on Haunted Hill? Night of the Living Dead?) do a commentary, sync it up to the DVD, and sell that. I would absolutely buy that, even if the episode was already available for free.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Work out a cost schedule, or do e-bay auctions for upcoming and released episodes.  I can definitely see my current project donating to you for the opportunity to solicit more donations for us.

(UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Doctor Submarine wrote:

A DVD would be an interesting idea, but are people really going to go for it when they can just download those episodes in higher quality for free?

Is the video for the recordings online now? If not, then this would be something you can't get elsewhere. If they are, then this is basically giving you something in exchange for a donation (and saving you download time). Will people buy something they can get for free? That's the whole business model of web comics and, to be honest, music.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

I'm interested. For one, to make sure this awesome ship keeps on floating and for two, I could use some additional site hits thrown my way.

Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

I just wanted to chime in.
I am the epitome of "Lurker" but I would love to see some form of something, yeah really cogent thought there, to assist in the continued DIFness of the world.
I've gotten my shirts, and such, but I think there might need to be a concentrated push to get some publicity out there.
As a fellow industry vfx wonk, I get slightly exasperated when a large number of my co-workers have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention DIF, granted then I get the joy of attempting to convert the heathens, but ... I'm never sure if they followup and listen or just humor me.
Not sure what it would entail, but just getting a bit more name recognition out there would im sure help across the board.

See what I've worked on recently here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2869151/
And ways to get in touch with me at:
http://www.google.com/profiles/SethBrower

Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Do an NPR-style pledge drive. Interrupt whatever you're talking about every 20 minutes in every podcast until you reach your goal of All the Monies.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

God, that annoys the hell out of me.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

Another idea...
What about auctioning off movies to commentate on? Forum members pledge $X for the movies they'd want to hear commentated and DiF choose which one they'll do and get the proceeds. Like a 'Telethon'.
How much would forum members be willing to cough up to hear Harry Potter or James Bond or the movies of Kubrick/Fincher/Ridley Scott be given the LOTR treatment?

not long to go now...

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Re: Sponsoring DIF? You? As in, you-you?

...well, that sounds dandy. Would anyone be interested in it?

Bear in mind, we can't do a perfect commentary for just any movie, so there'd be virtually no guarantee of quality in a system like that.

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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