Hello,
I did an analysis of advertisement space used on Google, Facebook and Wikipedia. I
measured banners first - Wikipedia had 250k pixels (okok, my screen is large :), Google
had 60k pixels, Facebook had 40k.
I applied a multiplier of 2 for Wikipedia image, because it's ability to scan your
soul is epic (facebook got 1.5 multiplier for toned down logo images in their ads). Also,
Wikipedia got 2x multiplier for central placement.
I tried to come up with good number of how many times those ads get shown, but it is
somewhat complicated - so I will assume that Facebook and Google always show, and
Wikipedia does show only 10% of the year.
I will not involve ethics or relevance argument, as I don't support 100% of WMF
direction either :-)
End result - Wikipedia got score of 100, while Google and Facebook, both ads-funded
companies, got 60 each.
Thats why I donated, Wikipedia obviously needs money.
Cheers,
Domas