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Google Launches Service To Replace Web Ads With Subscriptions
An anonymous reader writes: Everyone understands by now that ads fund most of the sites on the web. Other sites have put up paywalls or started subscription bonuses, with varying success. Google, one of the web's biggest ad providers, saw a problem with that: it's a huge pain for readers to manage subscriptions for all the sites they visit — often more trouble than it's worth. And, since so few people sign up, the subscription fees have to be pretty high. Now, Google has launched a service called Contributor to try to fix this situation.
The way Contributor works is this: websites and readers can opt in to the service (and sites like Imgur, The Onion, and ScienceDaily already have). Readers then pay a fee of $1-3 per month (they get to choose how much) to gain ad-free access to all participating sites. When the user visits one of the sites, instead of showing a Google ad, Google will just send a small chunk of that subscription money to the website instead.
The way Contributor works is this: websites and readers can opt in to the service (and sites like Imgur, The Onion, and ScienceDaily already have). Readers then pay a fee of $1-3 per month (they get to choose how much) to gain ad-free access to all participating sites. When the user visits one of the sites, instead of showing a Google ad, Google will just send a small chunk of that subscription money to the website instead.
Will this work with google analytics disabled/blocked. If not, no thank you.
That's all.
I would love one. I would actually pay as much as $100/month for a fully ad-free web experience (and I realize that most adds are not Google ads.) But $3/month is a no-brainer. Hope this includes YouTube.
I've done that a few times but always end up uninstalling it. There are too many sites I visit regularly where the ads aren't that obtrusive and the revenu from them is the only compensation the authors are getting for entertaiing me. And, there aren't that may sites I go to anymore where the ads are so bad that I feel I just HAVE to block them. I haven't seen any pop overs or unders or endless spawning popups in a long time. Or.. maybe the browsers are just smart enough to block that crap on their own.
Although... those damn videos that suddenly pop up out of nowhere and ambush you as you scroll... those have me coming close to blocking again!
It's too bad though, it's usually big corps that do evil stuff that makes blocking worthwile and individuals just trying to support themselves while doing what they love that have the reasonable ads.
Haven't seen ads since I installed adblock plus and no script. Cost me nothing.
Exactly. Now I can get off Adblock and start contributing to the websites I visit.
I would happily pay $1-3 per month for an ad-free but publishers-making-money web. I think that they found the sweet spot of enough money to fund the program vs. too expensive for most web users. I signed up before even reading the comments here, I've been waiting for this for years.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Really? Every time I disable adblock, I get a "what the hell" moment. Banner ads, footer ads, ads on both sides of the content, and if the text is more than a paragraph or two, ads in the middle. And for fun, if flashblock is also off, time for some auto-playing video ads.
On it goes.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!