Dive Brief:
- Reporting from a number of tech websites said a new service from Microsoft called Outlook Premium, which looks to cost $3.99 per month, will offer users a number of features including an ad-free email inbox. Microsoft already offers Ad-Free Outlook for $19.95 per year.
- The move comes at a time when ad blocking technology is major digital advertising industry news, and follows comScore research that shows around 10% of all U.S. desktops users employ ad-blocking software.
- Microsoft is clearly aware that ad blocking tech is something users desire, as a slide about its Edge browser shown to developers indicated the next version of the browser could have native ad blocking capabilities, or will at least support ad blocking extensions.
Dive Insight:
Users of freemail services such as Gmail and Yahoo mail have become used to the advertising tradeoff for email and storage space. Microsoft is betting Outlook.com users are willing to pay for an ad-free experience (a feature already offered via Ad-Free Outlook), as well as pay more for additional features like personalized email addresses.
People are becoming increasingly fed up with bad online user experiences due to ads -- a reality indicated by the increase in ad block adoption -- and different companies are coping in different ways. Allowing users to buy their way out of ads in the email experience (like Microsoft) is one approach.
Late last year Yahoo tested a more controversial approach by blocking its email users from their accounts if they had ad blocking software installed and active.
With the ad blocking issue overall, only time and testing will uncover what end users will tolerate. And as Jerrid Grimm, co-founder of Pressboard, recently told Marketing Dive, “If this becomes a technological arms race, we’re putting our bet on the consumer winning the war."