Adblock Plus is now selling advertising, that's right

midian182

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Adblock Plus is the most popular piece of ad-blocking software in the world. But its 100 million users may soon start seeing new ads appearing on their screens after the company launched a service that will allow more “acceptable” ads through its blocking technology.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Adblock Plus parent company Eyeo has partnered with a firm called ComboTag to create an ad marketplace where websites can choose “pre-approved” ads for their pages. Adblock Plus users who then visit these sites see these ads, which are said to be smaller and less intrusive the regular versions. Google and AppNexus will also help sell ad space from the new platform.

“It allows you to treat the two different ecosystems completely differently and monetize each one,” said Ben Williams, Adblock Plus’ operations and communications director. “And crucially, monetize the ad blockers on on their own terms.”

The Adblock Plus Acceptable Ads initiative has been around for the last five years. Many businesses that sign up, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, are asked to pay a fee to be put on the “whitelist.” The new marketplace is an extension of that program, making it easier for publishers to be whitelisted and thereby increasing the number of acceptable ads.

The Verge notes that 80 percent of the revenue from these marketplace ads will go to the publishers, with the remainder divided up among the other online agencies involved in sharing the ads. For its part, Adblock Plus will take 6 percent of the total revenue.

Adblock Plus sees the Acceptable Ads program as a compromise; every single online ad isn’t blocked, and it only allows the least annoying ads to be displayed. However, as Eyeo takes a revenue share from these ads and an increasing number are making their way onto the whitelist, many publishers and users are unhappy about the initiative.

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Everyone's just abandoning Adblock Plus now, because you might start seeing ads? Seriously.. when are you going to contribute to sites for their content then? You're viewing things for nothing at a likely high rate of consumption, and they get nothing besides a view which is nice.. but what about the time and effort put into it?

"Oh hey your content is okay, this needs to be improved but.. none of us will help you out. Just find how to make it better!"

It's simply taking the content as what it is. Free. Just not even trying to be helpful, for the service they provided and it's starting to get very irritating. So you expect everyone to suddenly pick up a Patreon page, or some other sort of crowdfunding means to keep their content going? Who's going to pay the bills at the end of the day?

I go through and personally lock down extremely obnoxious ads from showing, just saying you won't tolerate some sort of ads is pretty ridiculous. You might as well take NoScript and block everything that serves ads, so you have at least some personal control at this rate.

How many really truly make the effort to whitelist a site / channel / etc, so they can get a small bit of ad revenue from your views? I pitch in a bit through various means to support those I watch, because not everyone can make a great living from the paltry ad revenue not covering much these days.
 
I dumped AdBlock many years ago when they started accepting money from companies to be put on a whitelist. They seem to have forgotten the idea behind blocking adds and moved on to money grabbing.
As already suggested, uBlock is about the best out there. I will also add that you can use Ghostery along side uBlock. But I have begun to question Ghostery's motives lately.
 
Everyone's just abandoning Adblock Plus now, because you might start seeing ads? Seriously.. when are you going to contribute to sites for their content then? You're viewing things for nothing at a likely high rate of consumption, and they get nothing besides a view which is nice.. but what about the time and effort put into it?

"Oh hey your content is okay, this needs to be improved but.. none of us will help you out. Just find how to make it better!"

It's simply taking the content as what it is. Free. Just not even trying to be helpful, for the service they provided and it's starting to get very irritating. So you expect everyone to suddenly pick up a Patreon page, or some other sort of crowdfunding means to keep their content going? Who's going to pay the bills at the end of the day?

I go through and personally lock down extremely obnoxious ads from showing, just saying you won't tolerate some sort of ads is pretty ridiculous. You might as well take NoScript and block everything that serves ads, so you have at least some personal control at this rate.

How many really truly make the effort to whitelist a site / channel / etc, so they can get a small bit of ad revenue from your views? I pitch in a bit through various means to support those I watch, because not everyone can make a great living from the paltry ad revenue not covering much these days.

This is the internet, not TV! You sound as if you expect it devolve into just another form of TV, and thats what the internet would become if we let websites show us ads.

If I wanted to see ads I'd watch TV....

To add dramatic effect to my reply if I had time I'd sync/meme up king Leonidas kicking the Persian messenger into the pit. Leonidas be saying "this is the internet!"
 
What the hell are these guy smoking? There's no such thing as "acceptable" ads. It's quite hypocritical to block the ads of the competition and then try and sell your own "acceptable" ads which make YOU money. The day they start serving ads is the day I switch to an alternative. Simple as that.
 
Have you guys seriously never dove into the advanced settings of the adblock plus extension???? "acceptable ads" have been allowed for quite some time by default. this includes ublock origin......the guy who mentioned the original ublock, thats been dead for a while. adguard etc has also had "acceptable ads" enabled by default. learn to delve into your settings people. no wonder I never have anything wrong with my computer. ffs
 
This is the internet, not TV! You sound as if you expect it devolve into just another form of TV, and thats what the internet would become if we let websites show us ads.

If I wanted to see ads I'd watch TV....

To add dramatic effect to my reply if I had time I'd sync/meme up king Leonidas kicking the Persian messenger into the pit. Leonidas be saying "this is the internet!"

So basically avoid Twitch, YouTube, and other sites with "video" content that could contain ads then. Since it's clear, you have minimal intent to support them. You're seriously going to act like the internet should be free, void of ads because you'd rather not have people paid for their own time being spent on providing your entertainment?
 
Everyone's just abandoning Adblock Plus now, because you might start seeing ads? Seriously.. when are you going to contribute to sites for their content then? You're viewing things for nothing at a likely high rate of consumption, and they get nothing besides a view which is nice.. but what about the time and effort put into it?

Time and effort != value.

If websites want to continue making money in the post-ad era, they will need to do what every other business on the planet has to do to make money: provide enough value for people that they want to pay for it.

The problem ad-dependent sites are running into is that they are peddling the exact same information as everyone else. This creates a race-to-the-bottom pricing scenario where sites that charge for widely distributed information get undercut by people who will do it for free.

If they want money, they need to provide value greater than the electricity required to view the sites.

Smart websites use their traffic to generate sales leads. Smarter websites couple that with original content.
 
So, it appears they have taken a page out of the governments play book .... lots of promises that get changed when it's more convenient for them! Or is this a matter of "there is no honor among thieves"?
 
When ads stop lying Ill stop blocking them. Good ad should be : "product name" "what it does without any exaggerating" "end". It would take like 10 seconds on tv or three words online. It wouldn't have any bright color schemes or promise you that you get laid as soon as you buy it (pretty women/men in ads). If it's anything but plain text their lying and that means their product sucks and I avoid buying it. If you make good product with demand there's no need for ads. If they paid me to watch them it could be fine, but I see no point in wasting anybody's time supporting huge companies that lie to you and sell you **** you don't need.
 
IF, advertisers, and websites had STATIC ads, similar to how you see ads in newspapers & magazines, I would never block them. Just think how you would react, if you were reading a newspaper/magazine, and all of a sudden an ad JUMPED over what you were reading, requiring you to turn the page to go back to what you were reading, or, wouldn't let you turn the page, until a specific time had passed.
It annoys me, scrolling down a web page reading...and all of a sudden a video starts playing automatically, with VERY LOUD sound, requiring you to scroll back up the page to find it, to hit the X or stop button.
STATIC ads, no pop up/unders, not auto playing videos. Do that, and the website that does it, I'll disable all ad blockers. Fat chance that happening!
 
When ads stop lying Ill stop blocking them. Good ad should be : "product name" "what it does without any exaggerating" "end". It would take like 10 seconds on tv or three words online. It wouldn't have any bright color schemes or promise you that you get laid as soon as you buy it (pretty women/men in ads). If it's anything but plain text their lying and that means their product sucks and I avoid buying it. If you make good product with demand there's no need for ads. If they paid me to watch them it could be fine, but I see no point in wasting anybody's time supporting huge companies that lie to you and sell you **** you don't need.
I like the pretty women in ads. I also like funny ads.
 
To expand on what p51d007 said, I would be ok with small static ads that stay out of my way and do not try to trick me into clicking them. There should be a clearly delineated place for ads and even the most innocent and naive should know that they are ads that can be ignored. Videos should not play unless you click the Play button (to avoid download charges) and the sound should be muted by default. And finally there needs to be quality control so that ads are not inappropriate for the age group that might view the site and obviously do not install software when clicked. Basically I will allow ads when they stop being obnoxious and devious. Show me your pitch, show me where to click to view more, don't try to trick me.
 
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