Re: photobucket pictures on rpol
In reply to ShadoPrism (msg # 14):
To be fair, with dropping ad revenues across the board for everyone, this may literally be a last gasp effort to stay afloat. There are plenty of internet-based companies whom have tried using ads to support their business models (and offering services for free) that are being forced to find alternative revenue streams to stay solvent.
Companies are starting to wake up to how ineffective the average ad banner (or pop-up or whatever) is and are offering less money to sites for placing them. After all, a large percentage of the viewing internet blocks them anyway, now. And, those that don't often barely notice them at all, even if they're required to actively close the ad to get where they're going.
For a company like photobucket with such heavy server costs, it's hard to imagine a small membership fee could make up for that lost ad revenue. It may be that $40 per month is what they think it'll take, even after lost membership from the nature of a paywall.