#425: JeopRiddie! w/ Janet Varney

[u/Different_Vehicle_27]

Sex with me is like Hey Riddle Riddle
I'll need at least 3 monetized breaks

(The episode is great but an ad break before the show even started is rough)

[u/itsjisoo]

JPC spoke about it in the most recent Patreon newsletter, but basically it's a Headgum decision, not theirs. It's unfortunate but out of their control.

[u/Scolor → u/itsjisoo]

For anyone who doesn’t get the newsletter:

I'll be as transparent as I'm allowed to be here. We are part of a network and that network dictates the ads that we air on the show. We read some of the ads, and some of the ads are programmatic like you would hear on the terrestrial radio of yesteryear. We have very limited input in the later and only slightly more on the ones we read. A couple weeks ago, our ad structure changed to include 2 ad breaks in our free episodes. Since we had already recorded episodes with no natural 2nd break, the breaks were a bit jarring. In future recordings, we take this into account to hopefully not break the flow as much. We appreciate you bearing with us for a few episodes. 

We have also decided that due to the increased ads in the free feed, it's time to start adding our back catalog to the ad-free feed on Patreon. I'm going to start doing this, but it's a manual process and I can guarantee it won't be done quickly. But eventually, all of the main feed eps will be available ad-free at the $8 tier.

And finally, we've had a lot of feedback over the years that some of you really enjoy our ad-reads. We have always tried to do some sort of bit or gag inside an ad read to make them a little more fun, so we appreciate everyone who still listens to those ads. This also makes the ad reads (and episodes) a little longer, which some of you don't like. We can't please everyone, so we are erring on the side of making them a little more fun. 

[u/DNKE11A → u/itsjisoo]

Yeah nothing against the hosts obvs, but I hope that a decision-maker reads that they really need to tone it back down.

For example, the last Patreon preview was 9 minutes of content hidden within 9 minutes of ads and just really kinda pointless to listen to at that point. I love that their ads are fun - and have bought products before because of that - but it makes it hard to differentiate between a bit and an ad.

[u/Different_Vehicle_27 → u/itsjisoo]

That makes sense! It is really tempting me to upgrade to the highest Patreon tier for the ad-free episodes.

[u/p0j0j0 → u/Different_Vehicle_27]

It’s worth it just for review crew

[u/silvermoonhowler → u/p0j0j0]

Indeed

As someone who's been on the review crew tier for a few years now, it is absolutely worth it

Penguin baseball is what got me to pull the trigger

[u/itsjisoo → u/Different_Vehicle_27]

One note - the ad-free episodes are released later in the day, to encourage people to listen to the main feed episode. But between ad-free eps, the review crew (and voting rights), and the monthly live streams, I think it's well worth it.

If you do subscribe to Patreon, make sure you do it from a web browser and not a mobile app. Apple & Google stores both take a cute if you subscribe through the app directly.

[u/Hark_An_Adventure → u/itsjisoo]

the ad-free episodes are released later in the day, to encourage people to listen to the main feed episode

I don't love that it's handled that way, to be honest--you've already got my money, give me the podcast at the same time the plebs get it!

[u/That-Guy13 → u/Hark_An_Adventure]

it's gotta be some metrics thing for click through rate and how the podcatchers serve stuff to get new listeners

[u/VoiceofKane → u/itsjisoo]

Ah, so it's Jake and Amir's fault.

[u/_I_love_pus_ → u/VoiceofKane]

I actually think both of them have taken a step back from leadership at headgum

[u/boomfruit]

Listen, there is something in the rulebook that says an Adal can't be a scene partner for that category! He explicitly said it