Over the years, the most common criticism we’ve received – aside from occasionally disagreeing with our take on a particular show – has been the site’s advertising. We agreed. While ads help pay the bills, they also get in the way of enjoying Grateful Dead of the Day.
So we decided to make some changes.
Over the last few weeks, we welcomed our first paid advertiser, removed one advertising network entirely, eliminated the popup and overlay ads from the homepage, and reduced advertising on individual show pages to just an anchor ad and a sidebar display ad. The changes also mean significantly less advertising revenue, but we think they’re the right move for the long-term health of Grateful Dead of the Day.
We’ll continue experimenting with ad layout on the site, but our guiding principle is simple: whenever possible, we’ll choose the better user experience over squeezing in one more ad.
If you like the direction we’re headed, we’d love your help.
If Grateful Dead of the Day has become part of your daily routine, support what we’re building by upgrading to a new paid subscription on Substack.
Nothing about Grateful Dead of the Day or The Daily Nugs is changing. The daily picks, articles, newsletters, and everything you’ve come to expect will remain free.
A paid subscription is simply a way to help us continue reducing intrusive advertising while continuing to create new content and develop new features.
As a thank-you for your support, paid subscribers will receive:
- A Grateful Dead of the Day account with Google display ads removed and immediate commenting privileges.
- A free Grateful Dead of the Day sticker delivered to your door.
- The satisfaction of helping keep the site growing and improving.
- Unending good vibes from the Grateful Dead of the Day community.
If you’re already supporting us on Patreon, thank you! Patreon isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll continue supporting our patrons just as we always have.
Whether you choose to subscribe or not, we’re grateful you’re here.
Interested in Advertising?
If you have a business, event, product, or project that you think would be a good fit for the Grateful Dead of the Day community, we’d love to hear from you.
We’d much rather partner with organizations, events, artists, and businesses that our readers will genuinely appreciate than rely entirely on automated advertising.
If you’re interested in advertising on Grateful Dead of the Day, get in touch. We’d be happy to send along our media kit and discuss sponsorship opportunities.
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