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It Costs Digg $5 Million a Year to Run the Internet

valleywag.com — Perhaps Digg really is the future of the news business. The headline-discussion site, once an icon of the Web 2.0 movement, is losing millions of dollars a year.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 19, 2008

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  • subliminali, on 12/19/2008, -19/+1092quick, everyone click on a banner ad.
  • dupek11, on 12/19/2008, -10/+971I think you meant:
    Quick, everyone disable Adblock Plus and click on a banner ad.
  • inactive, on 12/19/2008, -4/+598Here's the problem: you can't make much money from selling advertising to an audience like Digg's, because we block and generally avoid ads if at all possible. We're sluts for content.
  • CCunitz, on 12/19/2008, -5/+455Digg going public would be like 4chan getting an endorsement from the United State Board of Education.
  • mikeophile, on 12/19/2008, -8/+440And it only costs MrBabyMan his waking life to run Digg.
  • jeremyosborne81, on 12/19/2008, -9/+432Digg has banner ads?
  • merreborn, on 12/19/2008, -1/+367Am I the only one who has no ***** clue what "run the internet" is supposed to mean?
  • Crucible1001, on 12/19/2008, -6/+337That is exactly the problem. The majority of digg users probably have adblock plus. They'd be making so much more if there were no ad blockers.

    As far as I can tell, digg is completely ad free and funded by air.
  • TheBigBrother, on 12/19/2008, -7/+303Lets bail out Digg. 5 million dollars is nothing.
  • AmyVernon, on 12/19/2008, -9/+274Wow. So the future of news also may have no future?
  • eliot2000, on 12/19/2008, -5/+185Hey!
  • eliot2000, on 12/19/2008, -2/+180I'm spending Kevin's money!
  • eliot2000, on 12/19/2008, -3/+168Look at me!
  • thelastcivilian, on 12/19/2008, -5/+165Realistically, I think they could do it in a weekend. Just write a blog post asking users to donate.

    (And in return, naked pics of Leah Culver and Veronica Belmont) Just a suggestion.
  • inactive, on 12/19/2008, -10/+150Digg needs to do some hardcore google gears/html5 local storage stuff to cache stuff on the local machine more to reduce bandwidth usage.

    also, the page size in general needs to go down, digg is bloated. But hey, it works, and it makes us happy.
  • mildewmedia, on 12/19/2008, -21/+154Headline left out the "i" in Ruin.
  • RooX, on 12/19/2008, -0/+131hookers and beer, natch.
  • groo68, on 12/19/2008, -5/+127I wouldnt click ads if i could see them.
  • DirtyBinLV, on 12/19/2008, -1/+113I'm pretty sure he dreams about Digg too.
  • garryw, on 12/19/2008, -8/+115I thought Ron Paul bought digg last year.
  • holzp, on 12/19/2008, -1/+106Digg is a new router. This site is just a cover.
  • ericodom, on 12/19/2008, -10/+115Let's face it... Digg is just a very expensive toy.
  • rednaxela825, on 12/19/2008, -1/+98I had no idea that Digg runs that internet.
  • mcm297, on 12/19/2008, -10/+104The DNC can always purchase Digg next time there's a general election.
  • MrSchler, on 12/20/2008, -2/+92i would but i was standing in front of the train
  • inactive, on 12/19/2008, -12/+101The future of news is Huffpo, Cracked, Ars Technia articles, and pictures that come from 4chan?
  • matrim2217, on 12/19/2008, -2/+90"Digg took in $6.4 million and spent $10.4 million"

    WTF was 10.4 million spent on?
  • Wosat, on 12/19/2008, -2/+89Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
  • TheCoreh, on 12/20/2008, -3/+84*Ruin
  • CollinWillis, on 12/20/2008, -0/+78RIP Observer A.
  • Sneezyx, on 12/19/2008, -1/+75I use Adblock Plus and I never see ads on Digg ... but I always see them on Gmail. It's so simple; use text ads that can't be blocked. Why can't these guys figure that out?

    That said, I never click the ads in Gmail.
  • ashes0, on 12/20/2008, -1/+67***** off navi!
  • noahhendrix, on 12/19/2008, -5/+70I think the article is incredibly biased, it does not mention that even bigger sites such as Facebook have failed to turn profits. A better article would of focused on how many Web 2.0 sites are figthing to find ways to monetize. For instance Twitter put up an ad this week for a new Product Manager in order to develop ways to generate revenue. This makes it seem as if Digg is the only valley start that is failing to monetize.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/16/twitter-hirin ...
  • hpymondays, on 12/19/2008, -6/+67great business model: create an ad supported site for geeks with adblock and then hire 50 people to run what could be run with 1-2 people. Who would have thunk...
  • xptoast, on 12/19/2008, -1/+60buy stocks
  • mufasa, on 12/20/2008, -0/+59Kevin's sexy parties

  • mediaspree, on 12/19/2008, -2/+58Yeah, but then he sold it to Obama. Hes a website flipper.
  • chaoswings, on 12/19/2008, -0/+56@Crucible1001

    People who have gone so far as to install an add-on to block ads are not going to click them in the first place. Even if ad-block were turned off I make it a point to never actually click on ads because you never know if the links are legit. This is aside from the fact that they never have anything I'm interested in.
  • Mard, on 12/20/2008, -0/+51Someone should tell your school about 4chan's recent endorsement by the US Department of Education. What is your school's telephone number? As a concerned parent, I think it's important that I call to let them know about the valuable, educational content they are blocking our children from viewing.
  • lougoose, on 12/19/2008, -0/+50More than their revenues, apparently.
  • ObamaYouth, on 12/20/2008, -3/+51Ten mill? Digg must be programmed in Ruby.
  • stoperror, on 12/20/2008, -0/+48Is it bad that I actually got that?
  • PhrosTT, on 12/20/2008, -3/+50seriously... if u wanna make money on the internet don't have a site targeted at computer literate people....

    u need myspace teens and elderly people who click everything. generally the same people who buy crap from qvc.
  • Ramble, on 12/20/2008, -0/+46Wikipedia is trying to raise $6 mil, if they cant do with with vastly greater hits than digg then digg can't do it.
  • benologist, on 12/19/2008, -3/+48Digg isn't the future of news. The only real news on this site comes from "traditional media", the rest and majority of the "news" here is bite-sized pieces of sensationalism summarised on blogs.

    Also they need to cut down on staff. Over 70 people to run this site... no doubt "a mere 50" could handle deleting spammers and rolling out the occasional feature.
  • chocobomog, on 12/19/2008, -5/+50I'm torn at this announcement:
    1. I want to see Kevin succeed (hey is genuinely good guy) and Digg to do well overall, its been a part of us for the past 3 years
    2. Digg going out of business is probably the only way I will break this addiction and actual do some real work.
  • highPhone, on 12/20/2008, -0/+43Listen!
  • pathetik, on 12/19/2008, -2/+43Thums Up** for sluts for content** ;0)
  • inactive, on 12/19/2008, -0/+39sell short
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