
Does ad blocking herald the end of the free internet? - daledavies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34268416
======
mark_l_watson
There might be a good side to this in the form of more interesting content at
major company web sites. Companies like IKEA, Safeway, Walmarts, Michaels Art
Supplies, etc. might start paying content producers to make interesting
content on their own web sites and draw people in.

This might work for individuals and small companies also if they support
narrow niches.

The goal is some model where content creators pay their bills and consumers
get good material. It will probably work out just fine.

------
a3n
> "Ad blocking is a threat to the whole advertising industry," says David
> Frew, senior programmes manager for the Internet Advertising Bureau trade
> body.

And cars were a threat to the whole horsing industry. Figure something out and
move on.

EDIT:

> In his view, publishers and content producers will have to have a "hard
> conversation" with consumers and persuade them not to use ad blockers.

I'm listening, but I've heard nothing so far that persuades me.

> "When you visit a site with an ad blocker on there should be no option where
> you can get the content for free."

I'm waiting, and look forward to the resultant lack of whining from
publishers. I only look because you let me. And, probably, because you haven't
yet bribed Congress to make blocking illegal.

------
a3n
> Imagine you had to start paying to view content on all your favourite
> websites.

> Would you give up on the internet completely or happily stump up for good
> journalism and entertainment?

I used to read a lot of books, but the Web is constantly available and mostly
free. Very low barrier to start reading something, and little consequence to
stopping something.

So I suppose I'd go back to reading books.

I already subscribe to NYT online, been thinking about The Economist. There
might be room in there for one more subscription to something. Maybe two. But
I really can't see myself subscribing to _anything_ more focused than general
news, since I don't visit anything focused at any regular rate now, while it's
_free_.

~~~
dagw
I think the solution might be something along the lines of spotify for web
content. There are probably 100+ sites out there that occasionally produce
content good enough that I'd pay for it, and I'd probably be happy to pay
$10/month to access the content, but I'm certainly not paying $10/month to
each site.

~~~
a3n
I've thought about the likelihood of subscription aggregators recently, in the
context of the ad blocking wars.

I think there will come an evolution beyond that. Eventually writers and other
content workers will come to work for the larger aggregators themselves. The
aggregators will become the publishers.

