As a world leader in advertising, Google has been investigating options for users who may not want to view ads, but also want to support their favourite site. Contributor was a program which allowed you to pay money to not see ads on your favourite sites, but it was US-only and closed down late last year – but it’s back and you can now sign up, but it’s limited.
The revamped Contributor service allows you to pre-load a pass with $5, that pass is then associated with a specific page and every time you visit a page a small amount – anything from $0.01 – $0.04 per page – across selected websites. This amount is set by the website, and Google says you’ll be advised if the site changes that cost. Google will deduct the money from your account via your Google Payments account as a recurring charge, with a $5.00 hit once your balance reaches $1.00.
The issue here is that the pool of sites you can use your pass on is very small, the front page of the Contributor site lists just four sites: Popular Mechanics, Grub Street (these guys want 4c per page), Comic Book and WorldWide Gaming (WWG) – but a look at the support site reveals a slightly more comprehensive list of site you can associate with your pass.
- Beliefnet
- Business Insider (UK)
- ComicBook
- Eurogamer
- Grub Street
- Hot Air
- Parkers
- Patheos
- Popular Mechanics
- Townhall
- twitchy
- World Wide Gaming
You can start by loading up your pass now on the Google Contributor page right now. You can then associate your pass with any of the sites you want to through the Google Support site.
So. How does it look when it’s working? Well, I’ve associated my pass with ComicBook.com and it looks well, ad-free.
If you need to check your balance or make changes, you can check out your account at contributor.google.com/v/mycontributor
You can bet that Ausdroid is jumping on this bandwagon, we’ve applied to be a Beta site taking part in the program and if you run a website we recommend you do too by heading to the Google Form and entering your details.
Sign me the heck up for this, as soon as Ausdroid goes live (in addition to my Patreon support, of course).
I’m no expert, but 4¢/view seems like a pretty low threshold if you were to run a site with comparatively lower traffic. If I had a niche site that a few thousand people loved and wanted to support, it’d seem more reasonable to up it to 10¢/view.
It’s a careful balance between scaring people off and bringing in new readers. AdSense is fractions of a cent per view etc. so we’d be ecstatic with 1c per view, even if part of that 1c goes to Google