Dive Brief:
- Soon visitors to Wired’s website running ad blocking software will either have to disable the tech or pay a subscription fee to view the content, according the Bloomberg Business.
- Publishers face lost revenue because of ad blocking technology, but at the same time risk annoying visitors with tactics like Wired is about to impose on its visitors.
- Currently more than 20% of Wired’s largely tech-savvy audience uses ad blocking tech and it will be of interest to other publishers to see how those visitors react to Wired’s move.
Dive Insight:
As the conversation around ad blocking continues to permeate the ad landscape, publishers are taking vastly different approaches to the situation. Wired's tactic begins with prepping its audience for the change.
"At WIRED, we believe that change is good," a Wired statement about the upcoming changes read. "Over the past 23 years, we’ve pushed the boundaries of media, from our print magazine to launching the first publishing website. We even invented the banner ad. We’re going to continue to experiment to find new ways to bring you the stories you love and to build a healthy business that supports the storytelling. We hope you’ll join us on this journey. We’d really appreciate it."
Users that want to have an ad-free experience will have to chalk up about a $1 per week for access through a $3.99 fee for four weeks of ad-free access. According to Mark McClusky, the magazine’s head of product and business development, ads will be replace with additional content.
Not all publishers are willing to risk upsetting visitors with policies that require either disabling ad blocking software or ponying up a subscription fee. According to Slate, ad blocking costs it 8% of potential revenue, but director of product development David Stern told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that Slate has engaged in internal debate on how much it’s worth fighting with its audience for that revenue. Slate said it concluded that punishing users for blocking ads might alienate tech-savvy readers.