Google Contributor Subscription Service Removes Ads From Participating Websites
The age-old business model on the web is to use ads in order to deliver free content. It's not a bad exchange, save for those obnoxious advertisements that flash incessantly or pop up each time you click a link on the same website. Otherwise, it's a way for site owners to pay the bills (and staff) without imposing a fee on readers. Google is one of the driving forces in the advertising industry, and ironically enough, it's also the one experimenting with a new program called Google Contributor that would eliminate ads.
It's a rather simple and straightforward program -- you choose a monthly contribution from $1-3, and so long as your subscription is active, you won't see ads on participating websites. Instead, you'll either see a pixel pattern where an ad would normally appear, or a "thank you" message.
Your monthly contribution goes in part to the participating websites, which according to Google currently includes Mashable, The Onion, Science Daily, Imgur, WikiHow, and Urban Dictionary. That's not very many at the moment, though Google says they're just a few of the partners that have joined in the experiment.
This is bit of a surprise move by a company that lives and breathes advertising revenue. We imagine Google gets a cut of the contributions as well, though no hard data is available on how the funds are split between Google and the participating websites.
In any event, if this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you can join the wait list for an invitation by going here.
It's a rather simple and straightforward program -- you choose a monthly contribution from $1-3, and so long as your subscription is active, you won't see ads on participating websites. Instead, you'll either see a pixel pattern where an ad would normally appear, or a "thank you" message.
Your monthly contribution goes in part to the participating websites, which according to Google currently includes Mashable, The Onion, Science Daily, Imgur, WikiHow, and Urban Dictionary. That's not very many at the moment, though Google says they're just a few of the partners that have joined in the experiment.
This is bit of a surprise move by a company that lives and breathes advertising revenue. We imagine Google gets a cut of the contributions as well, though no hard data is available on how the funds are split between Google and the participating websites.
In any event, if this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you can join the wait list for an invitation by going here.
