anyone remember how ARS was the biggest (?) aff. program like 4 years ago?
 

and today barely anyone talks about them anymore

funny how times change....

I made my first sale with them in 99, good times!

I think MarcDe is mainly focusing on mainstream these days.

Hehe I thought about that this morning actually

Didn't he got out of ARS and isn't his sister running it now?

this is correct.

ARS was a behemoth in its day, as was MaxCash, as was CE.. Now they're just kinda there...

When companies don't move with the times, this is what happens. I'm sure they still do pretty good.

IMO Cecash is doing pretty well atm with their Xratedbucks sites. The others are just...yeah..there ;)))

ARS took a dive when they canned all their sites and tried to convinced everyone to promote their 4-5 new sites with different payout structure. At least that's when they lost me and those I talked to.

Yep. That ARS For Real, CHAMPS and other stuff is when it started to go down. Home Sex Network did great until they decided to tie into Ifriends. Shame really.

So, in your opinion, who's the biggest now when it comes to having active affiliate base?

ARS was my best sponsor 4 years ago. They rocked back then.

Yea ARS sold good for me, when they started the 4real stuff it went downhill though. I still have a nice load of reward points I should spend there though :)

for me it looks like as ARS went downhill, AFF gained ground

not because of each other, i just mean at around the same time gradual decrease in ARS and gradual increase in AFF

I bet they still do 10s of 1000s of rebills daily though... :pimp

I'm sure they are pretty much retired, and don't really care anymore...

Anytime I think about the LaZy boy executive chair, 2 PS2s, 1 17" LCD screen, 1 Sony Mavica digital camera, 1 George Foreman grill, 2 Dell Inspiron 2650s and 1 cheap ass offbrand laptop (not their fault) I got from ARS Rewards, I am always reminded of how great and cool ARS was/is. People had differing opinions about them but all I know is, for the type of adult traffic I had, ARS converted best for me. Although Oxcash came close, for the type of traffic I had, ARS was best. Plus, their BYOT program kicked ass :) :) Thank goodness (now), mainstream conversions have changed dramatically for the better since the bad old version of CJ.com :)
Here's to memories!

Cheers

I like MarcDe garage heheh

Nastydollars, Bangbros and AFF would be my guess...and there is a huge gap to #4

Yep, ARS was one of my first sponsors back in 1999. I got a Sony Mavica as well as the other poster mentioned, a home theater system, a big tv, and some other stuff and I am a smalltime webmaster compared to most. Love the ARS rewards.

They still have good support and really prompt response on the webmaster board and I use the RSS feeds but they really are crappy....two or three word titles that have nothing to do with the content and no text.

C'mon ARS, get back with the program. I have been very happy with you for many years.

I think they had a monthly budget around 20,000 to spend on design and I got about 60% of that every month back in 2001/2002.

I bought a brand new car with all the work they gave me. :) Thanks ARS!!

Right on! Bump for ARS:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

yea.. where is that post..

i remember that..

This thread was a surprise read. Thanks to everyone for the memories :)

ARS did slow down a bit the last couple of years. MarcDe finally decided he had enough and sold it to me last summer. I have been concentrating quite a bit on the member's areas side of things to improve member values, but now I am really putting some time, effort and money into a new and improved site portfolio. This is definitely the area ARS lacks in most, but in a few months it will be much, much better!!

Thanks to everyone who stayed with us, I certainly appreciate it. Be on the lookout for a some nice promos when the new ARS is launched :)

no time for retirement yet with Becky in charge again as she was when we were the biggest....she has us working on NEW NEW NEW....anyway, we`re sponsoring the upcoming Cybernet Expo in Tampa & I would love to talk to all of you there or prior to.....email or icq me anytime....johnv at stormmedia.....oh, we still care!!!

CE --> MaxCash ---> ARS ---> and then the Revolution - the revolution of people with traffic realizing they could do a better job of it for themselves. Up until then it was just big boy programs with crappy paysites and true amateur sites. Bangbros showed people the light.

Everything has a lifespan I guess.

You're right Mutt, those networks were very much a product of their time in the online evolution.

their rewards store still kicks ass, i still have a bunch of pts left over.

Yeah, back in the day when you could design a bunch of nice frontends and just have all the members areas the exact same filled up with leased feeds and nothing else.

Add a decent looking affiliate site to manage them and you were ready to roll.

times change, who remembers Pan am?

Who remembers getting paid 20 cents a unique lol

Are you kidding me? They made their money and continue to make their money and will for decades to come - think of the millions of links that are out there that have long since been forgotten about.

Yeah, they don't need to do any marketing. You've all seen MarcD's cars...... He's set for life.

I do believe you've just regurgitated my point in different words...

Back in the day, ARS and Maxcash were the biggest sponsors. They were probably 50x times bigger back then, than they are today.

Thanks to polish_aristocrat for kicking up this thread and thanks to everyone that had something interesting to say or reminisce about. This thread is a reminder how easily people forget or don't pay attention. It's also a reminder how ARS hasn't been in the minds of webmasters old and new for the last few years.

Since 1997 ARS has provided webmasters with:

• A quarter BILLION dollars paid out
• 5 million dollars in rewards
• FREE health insurance
• WEEKLY payouts with 5 different payment options
• 1,000 sites
• 10,000 FHG's
• 500 HFS
• The BEST webmaster tools in the biz including FHG builder, BYOT's, RSS feeds, tons of promo tools and free content, and 8 different trial pricing points
• Top-notch customer service and webmaster support

Becky owns ARS now and has since June '06. This summer we're all going to be very busy rolling out some exciting new products we have planned so keep your eyes open. Also expect to see a large industry show presence from ARS. Like JohnV said we're sponsoring Cybernet Expo in Tampa and we'll be at every show from then through September. We look forward to hanging out with any of you this summer!

If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me on ICQ 25-120-534

Those that we send big checks to would hardly think that we are 'just there'.

not trying to raise drama...but why would anyone in their right mind shut down so many sites like that?
Did they lose their merhcant accounts? if you remember it was when the new regulations came into effect.

Kudos on them for suriviving though and im quite sure they have the money and backing to make it to the top again.

The problem was a combination of high chargebacks and low member values. Remember that was when all the drama over chargeback limits was first starting to play out and there was a real fear of losing the entire recurring database. On top of that, member values were very low and with the high payouts per signup, we were losing money with every signup that came in the door.

It took a long time to get the foundation rebuilt under ARS, but I'm confident that has been accomplished, so now it's time to grow again :thumbsup

go ARS and MaxCash!!!