Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - I am averaging 60 million page views a month...no ads tho..how much am i missing out?

conceptart · 10-29-2007, 04:42 AM

Hello,

I am the founder of a large online digital art and entertainment art community which is averaging the following stats:

1. 60 million page views per month
2. 1.2 million visits per month
3. 700k uniques per month

75 percent is american traffic the rest is europe mostly.

the demographic is mostly 16-35 year old males (the video game crowd with a creative education) very tech savvy...most educated and highly talented.

we have extremly high quality and unique content including tons of exclusive art for major video game and movie projects that go up in our community.

nearly every major entertainment corporation has members on our website, from microsoft to sony to ea to nintendo to ILM to Weta Digital...you name it, they are on there.

we run the site as a non-profit organization and have always spurned ads. we fund the community through training workshops which bring out most the big companies and about 300 art school students each shot at about five hundred bucks a head. We also have dvd educational content and downloadable art education content for sale that does very well.

Now, today we were pushed to do advertising by another company due to our traffic numbers and I am seriously wondering...how much are we missing out on by continuing down the "no way do we sell out" path. It seems that CPM advertising is the best way to go but it also seems like rates have gone way down over the years.

Most the sites I am finding with sixty million page views a month are claiming a 20k-70k a month revenue stream. This is not possible is it? It seems way bloated to me for just having some banners up.

Any advice is appreciated. We give all our money back to the community in form of scholarships, educational programs, and improved technology (the galleries are currently down for updates).

Are we making a mistake by not doing ads? Is there really significant revenue to be had with traffic numbers like ours? It is of note, that our traffic has doubled every year for five years in a row. We are about to undergo a major expansion into other niches and we are reconsidering our biz model.

Best,

CA

10-29-2007, 04:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
conceptart Inactive Join Date: 10-29-07 Posts: 1 iTrader: 0 / 0% Latest Blog: None	I am averaging 60 million page views a month...no ads tho..how much am i missing out? Hello, I am the founder of a large online digital art and entertainment art community which is averaging the following stats: 1. 60 million page views per month 2. 1.2 million visits per month 3. 700k uniques per month 75 percent is american traffic the rest is europe mostly. the demographic is mostly 16-35 year old males (the video game crowd with a creative education) very tech savvy...most educated and highly talented. we have extremly high quality and unique content including tons of exclusive art for major video game and movie projects that go up in our community. nearly every major entertainment corporation has members on our website, from microsoft to sony to ea to nintendo to ILM to Weta Digital...you name it, they are on there. we run the site as a non-profit organization and have always spurned ads. we fund the community through training workshops which bring out most the big companies and about 300 art school students each shot at about five hundred bucks a head. We also have dvd educational content and downloadable art education content for sale that does very well. Now, today we were pushed to do advertising by another company due to our traffic numbers and I am seriously wondering...how much are we missing out on by continuing down the "no way do we sell out" path. It seems that CPM advertising is the best way to go but it also seems like rates have gone way down over the years. Most the sites I am finding with sixty million page views a month are claiming a 20k-70k a month revenue stream. This is not possible is it? It seems way bloated to me for just having some banners up. Any advice is appreciated. We give all our money back to the community in form of scholarships, educational programs, and improved technology (the galleries are currently down for updates). Are we making a mistake by not doing ads? Is there really significant revenue to be had with traffic numbers like ours? It is of note, that our traffic has doubled every year for five years in a row. We are about to undergo a major expansion into other niches and we are reconsidering our biz model. Best, CA