Google Testing Out New "Contributor" Service
Google, the ubiquitous search engine/software/self-driving car/robotics/home analytics/etc company that has a stranglehold on the online search market, is reportedly testing out a new service called "Contributor". With "Contributor", users can elect to pay a $1, $2 or $3 monthly fee to their favorite sites in exchange for seeing fewer or no advertisements.
So, let's say that you visit your favorite site, Mashable.com. In exchange for a monthly fee, Google would show you a "thank you" message instead of the advertisements that they would normally serve. If you didn't pay this monthly fee, advertisements would show.
So, Google and the web site (Mashable.com in this case), which are taking every opportunity that they can to bombard you with advertisements, would cease their bombardment if you chose to pay a small monthly fee.
There is no word as to how much Google would take out of this monthly fee but you can be fairly certain that it would be at least 30%.
It should be noted that Google would only block the advertisements that they serve through their Adsense advertising program - any additional advertisements that are not served by Google would be shown as normal. I'm guessing that this fact would anger many people who eventually take part in the Contributor program (if it officially launches), as I'm assuming that many people would fell that their monthly fee should entitle them to a completely advertisement-free experience.
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Some of the sites that have signed on to the pilot program include the Onion and Imgur.
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Many sites try to delicately balance the number of advertisements that they serve to their users. You want to be able to pay your bills but you also don't want to saturate your readership with too many ads.
The Contributor program, if it proves to be a success, would alleviate much of this problem. Web sites would be able to derive revenues from their most loyal users without having to saturate them with advertisements.
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What do you think - would you pay a monthly fee of $1, $2 or $3 in exchange for not having to view Google-served advertisements on your favorite web sites?
Source: CNN.com - Google: You Can Pay as Little as $1 To See Fewer Ads
Filed under: General Knowledge
