drastic measures need to be taken
Champion of House Khonjin.
Age 30, Male
Game Developer
Pittsburgh
Joined on 12/29/05
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Comments
When I joined I was surprised how many animators I know from YT are active on here.
YT has been fucking over animators since their algorithms started favouring daily uploaders about 4 years ago. I could see NG becoming the biggest platform for animated content if people like David Firth did a better job of advertising their channel.
The problem would be too many normies joining and potential issues with advertisers.
"Normies" have always been here and advertisement may as well be non existent. The layout is also incredibly unattractive. The algorithm switch didn't change a thing, relative to the success of newgrounds. Animators just became lets players, because the money was still there. Ads are on a steep decline, with no signs of improvement. I believe Tom said at some point that his ideal website is one that doesn't need ads to function. It's a very appealing concept if there is something to it. Plus he is a man that can be trusted, as he has certainly stood the test of time.
But there are changes that need to be made before that can happen. Some skin deep, others a little larger, and I would love to talk to him to see what he is and isn't willing to do in that respect.
What made Youtube such a nonstop force of content was the convenience of the site. Upload ANYTHING by ANYONE. Sounds great. Maybe I haven't searched the internet deep enough, but so far I haven't encountered a successful website that doesn't cater to "Normies."
I'm not suggesting Newgrounds should become the spitting image of Youtube, but this site can't pull the same tactics as that company has.
The only way I can see Newgrounds getting better is if everyone started to donate as much as possible to the site, and/or if everyone began to work their asses off and contribute to this site exclusively. It sounds too simple, but I believe this would work out swell if many of users here weren't flocking to Youtube.
Then comes the realization that everything I just said won't matter if people aren't getting paid as equally (or better) than what Youtube has to offer.
But youtube is not paying equally or better. It's in rapid decline. I don't think newgrounds has to let anyone upload ever, as it has a blam and protect system to (hopefully) prevent (oh so hopefully) garbage from getting in. With more people browsing the site I would imagine that Tom could eventually return the voting requirements to what they used to be. I do think this requires a live action section however, and that would certainly be the biggest undertaking. Newgrounds currently has a huge identity crisis, where it's "for animators only" but other websites see it as a gaming site, but it contains an audio and art portal. It seems like newgrounds is a website for "creators," and not having live action in the line up is the final awkward roadblock.
The only "tactics" it would need to pull is an updated design, a live action portal, and better moderation of content. Newgrounds always puts shitty video game parodies on the front page, which is more understandable now since most of the people using the site currently are children, and the layout sort of speaks to that. It can be a contender in a way that isn't unrealistically optimistic, but it won't happen if the site remains as it is. People will gladly become a supporter to destroy the unpredictable choke hold of ads.
Youtube will destroy itself eventually.
They'll come crawling back to Newgrounds when they want their quality back.
Robot day december 10th.
As I get older I find myself agreeing more and more with Bill Hicks when it comes to advertising. Vidme has a good approach with fan funding but not sure how much I trust them.
I feel like everything hinges on us figuring out how to get to 10,000+ monthly subscribers. If we can do that, I believe everything else will fall into place. Part of that comes down to our upcoming site updates and how we present the paid subscription system. The rest is more of a chicken or the egg situation - if we had more exclusive content we might attract more subscribers but it's hard to get exclusive content if you don't have money to spend on the creation of exclusive / original content.
What really bums me out is how many animators still express love of NG as their favorite platform, yet when they release something new all their tweets / FBs / etc are promoting the YouTube, Vimeo or Vid.me versions. Sometimes I think it's because of the money potential on YouTube but other times I think it's just from the stigma of NG being the older site and being seen as out of the game, even though it's very much in the game and will likely outlast most of these sites. Or maybe people just take NG for granted because they know we will promote their work, while other sites make them do it themselves.
With 10,000+ subscribers, NG would have extremely minimal ads and more opportunities to yearn money than the other sites. I think people would be extremely optimistic about where NG is going and our numbers would keep getting bigger still. We just have to figure out how to sustain long-term subscriber growth, so that we can actually reach 10,000, even if it takes years.
10,000 is not unreasonable considering the very appealing prospect of making money on a platform that doesn't need ads (which I am assuming would be possible if this number is reached/surpassed).
A big reason in part for animators speaking praise of Newgrounds but never mentioning it in regards to their work is because Newgrounds is largely viewed as being a site for children, and it's layout reaffirms this. It's the mother's basement of artists so to speak. I think a few simple aesthetic changes would go a long way, but it's also a matter of content. The most prominent videos tend to be shitty video game parodies and such, but I understand this is also a result of having a smaller younger base which would be fixed with an influx of fresh faces. The older site stigma plays into it, but no one would give a damn if the previous barrier was removed.
Many of my friends and I are willing to make the jump exclusively, but would like to see some changes go into effect so that it makes sense to do. I'm extremely curious as to what you would be willing to change and what is forbidden ground (like a live action portal).
I appreciate you taking the time to respond to this post, and would love to discuss it further if you feel the inclination. Speaking as someone who was always a cynic about this place, I think Newgrounds realistically has a shot.
Newgrounds needs to get its act together. The destruction of failtube is a major opportunity to reestablish itself, but I'm not sure if the site can take advantage due to the fact that normies today don't have any idea what streamlining and miniaturization is.
Potatoman
Uploading.. where?