Telegraph ads

[tobyaw]

I subscribe to the Daily Telegraph web site. I’m a long-term reader of the paper, and although I haven’t picked up a physical copy in years, and it is now a feeble shadow of its former self, I still find enough premium content for the subscription to be good value. And I think it is important to pay content creators and service providers.

But they’ve started adding pop-ups telling me to turn off my ad blocker. I find it hard to describe how annoying this is. I’m paying them money, and yet they are nagging me to let them show me adverts that I don’t want to see. There is something very wrong with the world. And with companies driven by advertising.

(On a more positive note, I’m hoping that YouTube’s changes to disallow smaller channels from joining their advertising programme will mean that many fewer of the videos I watch online will have ads.)

Comments

[vivdunstan]

Have you given them feedback directly? I agree that if you are a paying subscriber you shouldn't be hassled about ads.

I subscribe to the Guardian, mainly accessed via the iOS app on iPod touch and iPad. I skip the politics / main news sections, but find it great for accessing new stories about books, tech, science etc. In just a couple of minutes I can quickly scan to see new stories. But I don't generally access the website, and if I do am not logged in. So I don't know if that has the same issue as yours. At least I have an app I'm happy with. I agree with you about paying for content providers.

Though having said all that I'm not keen on the charges the Courier (Dundee) want people to pay to read there. Seem steep, and their website crawls!

But happy with my main read :)

Hope you get rid of your issue soon.

Oh and re YouTube ads, yes they are annoying to me too. Though Martin has commented that for him the YouTube ads tend to be more entertaining than those on TV, and often he does end up wanting to watch them! That's after I've invariably sent him yet another YouTube link ...

[tobyaw]

I tend to get local news from the Evening Telegraph web site, rather than The Courier. Pretty much the same stories, but no hassle with the paywall.

I get heavily discounted copies of the Courier and Evening Telegraph at work, since Findmypast is part of DCT, so I wonder if I can get a cheap/free subscription to the Courier web site? Must find somebody to ask.

[vivdunstan]

I've never found the Evening Telegraph - website version anyway - to have as many stories as the Courier. But maybe that's because I'm often looking for Angus stories, and it may be better for Dundee ones? Though I've never found it great for Fife either!

Yes you should definitely look to see if you can get a cheap Courier sub :)

[andrewducker]

That is particularly rubbish. Ads _or_ paying for content. Not both!

[tobyaw]

Too right.

Although if I were being particularly generous to newspapers, I would acknowledge that their print business consists of selling physical papers that also contain a significant amount of advertising. Same goes for some subscription TV channels, and for watching films in cinemas.

But it doesn’t make it any less unpleasant.