On behalf of the aBlogtoWatch team, I’d like to first thank you for visiting the site, as well as helping our efforts to continually make aBlogtoWatch better. In other words, your feedback is not only appreciated, but highly valued. Today, I’d like to ask for about 15 minutes of your time in filling out our “aBlogtoWatch 2016 Audience Survey” (which is below at the end of this article). While the survey will hopefully be enjoyable, in exchange for your time we will be giving away one or more watches (more details below). This survey is designed to help us improve the site, as well as to work with the right types of advertisers. We’ve always been very transparent with the difference between editorial and advertising, and to that end we want to ensure that the advertising messages our audience views reflect the types of products and services that are the most relevant to them. To do that, we always need more information.

This is a good opportunity to share a little bit of data on what we’ve learned about the aBlogtoWatch audience’s advertising preferences, and why we are asking people to participate in the survey at this time. In a recent poll, 40% of respondents said that aBlogtoWatch should be 100% advertiser-funded. An additional 45% of poll respondents said that they preferred advertising as a means to support the site, so long as it did not interfere with the integrity of editorial content. Taken together, I personally interpret this to mean that about 85% of the polled audience not only wants high-quality and relevant advertising on aBlogtoWatch, but is willing to engage with it as part of the larger aBlogtoWatch viewing experience. Such information was good to receive, so right now we want a bit of your time to help us in making that experience better. This is part of our continuing job to keep aBlogtoWatch going, and growing our ability to produce more and better content.

I’d like to talk a bit more about why we need the information we ask for in the survey. The survey does ask for some personal information, such as buying habits and income. This information is all anonymous, and I hope it goes without saying that we won’t use this information to violate anyone’s privacy. How much money people make and how they spend their money is the exact type of information advertisers look at when trying to determine what audiences to put their messages in front of. aBlogtoWatch takes pride in the relevancy of ads we show our audience, meaning that I want to make sure people see high-quality advertising messages about stuff they actually want to learn about and buy. In order to best do that, we need to understand what people are buying, and how much of it. Moreover, the only reliable way to get this information is to ask you directly. In short, the information we get here will allow us to work with the right types of advertisers to bring the types of messages that the aBlogtoWatch audience wants to see. We don’t like irrelevant (or deceptive) advertising any more than our audience does, so you can understand why we work so hard to put the right types of supporting advertising beside the content we take so much pride in.

Of course, the audience survey is more than just about money, but also about overall watch tastes and lifestyle preferences you may have. This will help us in bringing not only the most relevant advertising messages, but will also help us in understanding where we might have gaps in our editorial coverage, etc. We spend a lot of time focusing on things that offer “value for the audience,” and it really helps to directly ask the audience what they feel is valuable for them.

About the watch giveaway: As I mentioned, there is an opportunity to win a watch here. aBlogtoWatch will begin by giving away one Oris watch to an audience member who has completed the survey, a second Oris watch will be given away if 2,000 people participate, and so on for each subsequent full block of 1,000 respondents. In other words, if up to 1,999 people complete the survey, we will give away one watch. If 2,000 people respond, we will give away two Oris watches, three watches for 3,000, and so forth. For the purposes of the watch giveaway associated with this survey, the time to enter will expire on December 31, 2016. We will continue to appreciate all survey participation after that date, but will no longer be giving away any additional watches. This gesture is simply a way of helping to reward people for the time they take in filling out the survey, and to make it clear that we always want to be fair when engaging in an exchange of value.

We’ve chosen a selection (above) of four Oris watches that winners can choose from. In order to qualify to win, you’ll need to make sure you put your correct contact information in the survey (there is a space for a valid e-mail address). These are all great watches, but I felt it would be nice to offer the winner(s) a selection. One option is the Oris Big Crown ProPilot Day Date ($1,950 USD) on the bracelet that comes in a 45mm wide steel case. Then, there is the Oris Divers Sixty Five ($2,300) on the steel bracelet in the 42mm wide case, or with a different dial and in the 40mm wide case ($2,100). And finally, there is the Oris Aquis Date ($1,950) on a bracelet in a 43mm-wide case. You can check out these and more models at oris.ch.

Thank you in advance to all who participate in the aBlogtoWatch 2016 Audience Survey, as well as for making aBlogtoWatch your home on the internet for timepiece news and reviews. Here is the survey:

UPDATE FOR MOBILE & TABLET USERS: For a better survey taking experience using a smartphone or tablet computer (iPad, etc…) you will likely have a better experiencing taking the 2016 aBlogtoWatch Audience Survey via this link here.