Thread:Sannse/@comment-5973717-20150201181300

With more and more users figuring out how to use adblockers, Wikia's main source of income: advertising, might not be profitable on its own in the long run. I have some ideas for other ways for Wikia to make money.


 * Corporate Wikis: Get paid to host wikis for companies. Wikia already has a lot of skill at being a wiki farm. Many companies use wikis internally. Companies could pay Wikia to host their internal wikis. The corporate ones would not have adds, and would make their money from paid hosting. For additional fees, the corporate wikis could get custom features like having the wiki's login system integrated with the login system provided by the company, rather than Wikia's. They could also pay extra for 24/7 customer service. This could theoretically double Wikia's income "without increasing vandalism". The corporate wikis wouldn't be directly readable or editable by anonymous people, like most of Wikia's are.


 * Government Contracting: I know for a fact that the US's DOD and DHS use Wikis internally. Wikia could get paid to host these, with the same general features as the corporate ones, but with more security features. This could literally make billions of dollars.


 * Premium extensions: Right now, Wikia refuses to install semantic mediawiki, due to the system requirements. Wikia could offer SMW again, but someone would have to pay for it to be installed. Wikia would keep their current offerings free, but wikis could pay to have other extensions that aren't standard. This would help communities, since they would be able to get the tools they need, and it would help wikia make money with something that isn't advertising.


 * Public service subsidies: Some wikis, such as the one for Hong Kong's bus system, are public services for all practical reasons. They help peoplein general. For that reason, Wikia should ask governments to subsidize wikia, since it performs public services. 