SNOWBALL TO AFFILIATES: YOU ARE *SO* SPECIAL [Author: lum]

Gamers.com is reporting that Snowball/IGN is launching a revamp of its affiliate program in December. “Premier”, or first-tier affiliates, will continue as they are currently, while “Select”, or second-tier affiliates will be hosted by and linked to from the IGN network, but will recieve no ad banners (and, more importantly, ad banner revenue) from Snowball/IGN.

“It would have been nice for Snowball/IGN to have come out immediately to its second-tier `Select’ affiliates and explain that the more important affiliates will still receive ad banners from a first-party. Instead, us `Select’ or second-class affiliates were not even informed of the `Premier’ tier. Every affiliate I know is looking at their options; people want out,” an anonymous affiliate said.

It’s unclear if Vault Network, Snowball’s network of sites covering massively multiplayer games, are considered “Premiere” or “Select”.

We will continue to cover the meltdown of the advertiser-supported World Wide Web as it continues to collapse. And laugh. Nervously. Meanwhile, here on C-Net, get ready for huge honkin’ ads in the middle of the story. Threats by LumCorp to hold their breath and turn blue rather than add these “site slayers” were unconfirmed at this time.

UPDATE: I was reminded that Vault Network is in fact wholly owned by Snowball and thus not technically an affiliate.