Announcement Re: Howl & Earwolf Ad-Free Archives (PLEASE READ)

[Shannon 2953]

VERY IMPORTANT EARWOLF ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Hello Dear Listeners.

 

Today we will begin our rollout of Earwolf’s ad-free archives into Howl Premium. This has been in the works since Howl’s launch, but has proven to be much more complex than we initially thought. We feel awful that we have not been able to get these out into the world sooner, and have been working tirelessly to fulfill the promise we made to you. This process is still a work in progress, but we have decided that we will begin rolling out ad-free shows as they are ready to go. So 12 shows will be rolled out this week, but more on that later. To thank you for your patience, all Howl Premium subscribers will receive a one time use coupon in their email for 40% off orders at the Earwolf store.

 

How will this benefit my favorite Earwolf Hosts?

 

Please see this post from Scott Aukerman explaining why we made this change and how it is beneficial to your favorite Earwolf hosts.

 

What happens when a show goes ad-free?

 

When a show becomes ad-free in Howl for premium members, the archives will eventually be de-published from iTunes and Earwolf.com. Archives in this context are any episode of a show that is older than 6 months. But before a show’s archives are de-published, it will be announced here in advance.

 

What does this mean for me?

 

IF YOU ARE A HOWL PREMIUM MEMBER – Once an Earwolf show goes ad-free for Howl premium, episodes that are older than 6 WEEKS will have NO ADS when logged in as premium. The 6 most recent weeks will have ads regardless of your premium status. This is due to our contracts with advertisers. But once an episode is older than 6 WEEKS, it will be ad-free for you in Howl.

 

IF YOU ARE NOT A HOWL PREMIUM MEMBER – Once an Earwolf show goes ad-free for Howl premium, any episode that is older than 6 MONTHS will no longer be available. Once an episode becomes 6 MONTHS old, it will be removed from iTunes and Earwolf. But the most recent 6 MONTHS worth of episodes will always be available to you, with ads, in the same places they have always been.

 

Still confused? Here are two handy tables:

 

 

 

Which shows will be ad-free first?

 

The following shows are now ad-free for premium users in the mobile apps (not on Howl.FM yet, but will be shortly). But this first batch will not be de-published quite yet. We will let you know when that happens.

 

Shortwave with Grant Lee Phillips

Rafflecast

The reality SHOW show

Owen & TJ Read The News

Mike Detective

Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project

The Wolf Den

Love, Dad

Professor Blastoff

Who Charted?

The Earwolf Challenge

U Talkin’ U2 To Me? (will not be depublished in iTunes, but will be ad free for Howl Premium members)

Comedy Bang Bang (as of 7/1)

I Was There Too (as of 7/13)

How Did This Get Made (as of 7/13)

Cracked (as of 7/13)

The Canon (as of 9/1)

Nerd Poker (as of 9/1)

 

As new shows are added, it will be announced here and they will be added to the list.

 

Why are those shows being launched?

 

These shows’ archives are more than 95% ad free. Which means our engineering team has stripped the ads for more than 95% of the episodes in the archive. This means a few shows have an episode or two that will still have ads in them. These episodes will be available to non-premium members because they still have ads. We felt this was the least confusing way to go about it. For example, if we went ad-free for a show that’s only 50% stripped, premium users would hear ads half the time and that would be a confusing experience. As new shows cross the 95% ad-free threshold, we will launch them, and announce it here. Every show will be 100% ad-free eventually.

 

How can I keep track of which shows are launched and which episodes are ad-free?

 

If you are listening to an episode and find it has ads, before emailing support, you can check this Google Doc to see if it is known whether that ep still has ads. This doc updates daily so you will always know which episodes should be ad free and which will not. This is a work in progress. Please bear with us. We will get to 100% ad free for everything eventually.

 

 

If you have any questions at all, please ask me here or email support@howl.fm.

 

Thank you for your patience while we make this transition. I know that it is going to be a big change that will take some getting used to from everyone. We really appreciate your love and support for our great content.

[Pure Guava 325]

 

For example, if we went ad-free for a show that’s only 50% stripped, premium users would hear ads half the time and that would be a confusing experience. As new shows cross the 95% ad-free threshold, we will launch them, and announce it here. Every show will be 100% ad-free eventually.

 

 

If you imagine James Adomian reading that sentence as Bernie Sanders 95% of your day will be 100% awesome.

 

(Don't ask me about the other 5%, I don't have the security clearance to share that with you at this time)

[gulospizzapaddle 62]

I'm sure that this has been asked in the past, but as a refresher, will the ads be taken out of shows like Hollywood Handbook? I mean, those babies are premium content in and of themselves!

[Shannon 2953]

I'm sure that this has been asked in the past, but as a refresher, will the ads be taken out of shows like Hollywood Handbook? I mean, those babies are premium content in and of themselves!

 

The plan is for every single show to eventually have 100% ad-free archives. This makes it fair to all the premium subscribers. It might be hard to explain to someone who is completely new to Earwolf and Howl that, "This show is the only one has ads because the fans wanted to keep them"

 

BUT we do know that the HH fans and Spont fans really really like the ads. So we are looking into a possible way to maybe toggle ad-free off if someone really really wanted to listen to the ad-full version. Maybe there's another solution we haven't thought of yet. We shall see once it's Handbook's turn to go ad free. But your request to keep funny ads has been heard!

[HotSaucerman 2051]

So we are looking into a possible way to maybe toggle ad-free off if someone really really wanted to listen to the ad-full version. Maybe there's another solution we haven't thought of yet.

If somebody REALLY wants the ads, they can download all the episodes while they're still free. (I'm still not crazy about the idea of suddenly pay-walling an archive that's been free for years.)

[Shannon 2953]

UPDATE: CBB is now ad-free for Howl Premium members!

 

It will not be de-published from Earwolf and iTunes for another week or so.

 

Likely next shows to go ad-free: HDTGM, I Was There Too, and Cracked.

[Shannon 2953]

The Canon and Nerd Poker archives are now ad-free for members!