Another blow to the indie Web: the Deck ad network closes down

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

So sad:

LONG STRANGE TRIP

We started The Deck in 2006 and for the first couple years it struggled. By 2008, it was an OK business and by 2009, it was a pretty good business. From then through 2013, The Deck was going along just fine.

THINGS WORK, UNTIL THEY DON’T

Things change. In 2014, display advertisers started concentrating on large, walled, social networks. The indie “blogosphere” was disappearing. Mobile impressions, which produce significantly fewer clicks and engagements, began to really dominate the market. Invasive user tracking (which we refused to do) and all that came with that became pervasive, and once again The Deck was back to being a pretty good business. By 2015, it was an OK business and, by the second half of 2016, the network was beginning to struggle again.

A LONG EXPERIMENT

After a long, successful run, The Deck’s time has come and we’re shutting it down. We’re sorry to see the network go, but we’re proud to have supported so many independent voices, and the open web, along the way.

Thanks a million to the sites and services that were a part of The Deck over the years. Without exception, every affiliate deal was made with a simple agreement to participate and was based on trust, honor and friendship. What few issues arose were handled with common sense towards a common purpose. We’re proud of that too.

Post external references

  1. 1
    http://decknetwork.net/
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