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Annoying New Ad Icons and Popups

Post by raygduncan
In the latest version of WAZE I noticed that I'm seeing icons on the screen for "Vons" and certain other firms. This is not equal opportunity (for example, showing all markets along my route), so I'm guessing it's paid advertising, and there's no obvious way to disable it. This is just screen clutter.

Today for the first time, while driving home, WAZE did something much MORE disturbing, which was to display a giant red popup covering half the screen for "ABC Toy Pickup" in a town (Woodland Hills) about 20 miles from me and on the other side of the Santa Monica mountains (and probably 2 hours away in the evening traffic). Since this is outside the radius I've configured in settings and has nothing whatsoever to do with navigation or traffic, and in fact is a distraction while driving (anything big and red appearing on the screen immediately draws your attention from the roadway), I don't understand why WAZE thinks this is a good idea. The app will quickly become unusable if WAZE goes further down this path.
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Post by Davy_Ray
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.
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Post by dirgela
The business model is that you make the map, provide traffic data and then get ads if you want to use it :) On the other side google maps don't have traffic data in many countries and waze has no competition. Funnily in these countries waze has no advertisement as well :)
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Post by fotrik
I understand that Waze needs to make money. On the other hand when the ads arrive also here I would like to have an option to buy a "Pro" version on Market with no ads.
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Post by 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.
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Post by jmp316
Waze is a completely free app and service, but they need/want to make money too. IMO, the ads are a small price to pay for such a quality product. Ads are generally how many free online services gain revenue (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.). You may think that Google Maps doesn't do this, but Google constantly monitors and keeps mounds of data on users to target advertising at them.
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Post by Jpere
I haven't had any ads pop-up while my vehicle was moving. Only when I was stopped.

They do not bother me as long as they do not pop-up while I'm driving. Perhaps there's a bug somewhere that caused them to appear while you are moving.
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Post by jrnavid
Oh this happened to me too! I was very mad because I had to physically reach out and press the x button to make it go away. I too will leave Waze if I have to be dealing with ads like this. Google Maps just came out with iOS so there's a new alternative
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Post by russblau
CrackedLCD wrote: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?
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Post by 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.
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