Annoying New Ad Icons and Popups

[saguaro7]

I have to agree with fortik and others. They way Waze is doing ads is going to push me away to some other nav app. I love the community concept and am generally very happy with Waze. But I'm sick of seeing Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell everywhere I go. I never go to either place, and actively dislike both. The map markers are irrelevant and distracting. Why would someone driving "65" on an Interstate detour to one of the marked businesses? Unlikely. The popup situation (when stopped) is somewhat reasonable, but again, blanket advertising doesn't work. Irrelevant ads are a wast of time for users and money for advertisers.

The smart people behind Waze should be able to do much much better.

[WeeeZer14]

Why would someone driving "65" on an Interstate detour to one of the marked businesses?

Driving around at lunch time (vacation, running errands, visting a client site, day off, etc etc etc) and getting hungry. Desired response: "Hmm, I haven't had that in a while. Sure, why not."

And yes, in some areas if you drive more than a few miles you will be getting onto an Interstate-class road and doing Interstate speeds even if you aren't leaving your city.

[Ayzmo]

But I'm sick of seeing Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell everywhere I go. I never go to either place, and actively dislike both.

This applies to me as well. I don't mind ads so much given that Waze is free but I am disgusted by Taco Bell and would never eat there. Dunkin Donuts, not as bad but I haven't been to one in years. If we had options for ads it might be more palatable.


There's also the reality that I know a lot of these ads aren't in the right place. I know where Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts are around me and there are about 4x as many little things for them in the area than there actually are, often quite close to each other and in neighborhoods. It doesn't make sense.

[CrackedLCD]

There's also the reality that I know a lot of these ads aren't in the right place. I know where Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts are around me and there are about 4x as many little things for them in the area than there actually are, often quite close to each other and in neighborhoods. It doesn't make sense.

There's a form you can fill out to correct the location of the advertising pins. I submitted two entries for local Taco Bells and never saw any changes. I even fixed them on Google since they were wrong, too. Google updated the locations within hours, but Waze has yet to respond.

I don't mind the pushpins at all; you're (supposedly) limited to three per screen so it's never too crowded. I'd much rather have this than full blown pop ups which obscure all map info at random intervals, or something equally annoying.

[AlanOfTheBerg]

I've escalated the "not fixing bad ad locations" issue to Jonypony.

[imajica12345]

I have seen these as well. Mainly there are 3 Dunkin Donuts pins all within a few blocks of each other. Here in Montreal i don't think there are any Dunkin Donuts left. There are 2 that i know of and they are no where near where the pins say they are. The location of the pins are correct based on the address listed in the pin (if i press it), but that is about as far as it goes.

Very annoying that they come up to begin with.

[AlanOfTheBerg]

Very annoying that they come up to begin with.

Don't just complain you don't like it. Please directly offer Waze your advice for how to make money, without having to charge for the app, which is a revenue stream which dries up.

[russblau]

There's a form you can fill out to correct the location of the advertising pins.

Taco Bell is paying Waze for ads; they aren't paying me. Why should I spend my time filling out reports to help them place their ads?

[j-lamar]

How's this for a monetization strategy:

Charge $0.99 per year (or something like that) for a "Waze Pro" subscription that will automatically hide all advertising. If you're looking for something beyond a one-time app purchase, the subscription model would work.

I'm guessing a vast majority of Waze's current users would be willing to pay a nominal annual subscription fee to get rid of the fast-food and hotel chain ads. Voila! Ongoing revenue!

And if they don't want to pony up the subscription fee, then just live with the ads. Win-win.

[barry99705]

How's this for a monetization strategy:

Charge $0.99 per year (or something like that) for a "Waze Pro" subscription that will automatically hide all advertising. If you're looking for something beyond a one-time app purchase, the subscription model would work.

I'm guessing a vast majority of Waze's current users would be willing to pay a nominal annual subscription fee to get rid of the fast-food and hotel chain ads. Voila! Ongoing revenue!

And if they don't want to pony up the subscription fee, then just live with the ads. Win-win.

Yea, I'd pay for an ad free version of waze. I can't stand taco hell.