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| Dark Traffic, Brutal Ad Blockers, and Ad-Shield and Google’s Fight for Publisher’s Lost Revenue |
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| Without context, dark traffic sounds like a sinister plot in a sci-fi film where hero hackers must break through a firewall to save the day. But despite the term's fantastical-sounding nature, dark traffic is stealing revenue from publishers at an alarming rate. If you jump down this digital rabbit hole, as Dustin Cha, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Ad-Shield, did, you’ll find that dark traffic is stealing 14-21% of publishers' revenue. With those stats, I'm sure publishers globally are looking for fictional hacktivists to help them get their revenue back. However, a partnership between Ad Shield and Google might make our hacktivists step out of our screens and into publishers' reality. Ad-Shield's new certification partnership with Google enables publishers to better monetize dark traffic affected by aggressive ad blockers, or "brutal ad blockers." This collaboration allows publishers to access premium demand from Google Ad Exchange (AdX), reclaiming revenue from ad-blocked inventory previously deemed unfeasible to monetize. This partnership targets the vast 70% of dark traffic, providing publishers with new monetization paths, offering RPMs between $1 to $3, and allowing them to utilize their existing ad stack or opt for Ad-Shield's programmatic demand through AdX. Whether this partnership produces the climax publishers want from this fantastical saga will only come with time and testing. – AB |
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| Paywalls Push Readers Away—can Sponsored Access Bring Them Back? |
| Consumers would rather not pay for the news they want to consume. Who would have thought? Turnstil's new survey reveals that over 90% of potential readers leave sites when met with a subscription paywall. In the survey, users were asked, "What would you do when encountering an online paywall asking for a subscription?" For the past two decades, the trend has been clear—90-95% of visitors do not subscribe when prompted at a paywall, reflecting consistent consumer behavior. So why do publishers continue to do it? Well, because it is a way to generate revenue. However, even David Strauss, the new VP of Revenue Operations at The Guardian US, believes this is a bad business move. Strauss asserts, "We're in a time where many publishers, not just news publishers but every type of publisher, are moving towards paywalls and gating strategies that require payment to access the content. I think this is the wrong business strategy." A Potential Solution: While subscriptions remain vital for publishers, the large segment of non-subscribers presents an untapped opportunity. Turnstil offers a unique solution by allowing advertisers to sponsor brief access at the paywall, enabling publishers to monetize these visitors in a consumer—and ad-friendly way. – AB |
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| Lawsuits, Citations, and Copyright Claims: Perplexity AI’s Battle With News Publishers |
| If anyone competes with Big Tech in stacking up lawsuits, it's these AI companies. They're both collecting them like infinity stones. I mean just a couple of weeks ago, the NYT sent Perplexity AI a cease and desist. Perplexity AI is now at the center of a new legal storm. News Corp's Dow Jones and New York Post filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging copyright infringement and claiming that Perplexity's AI-powered search tool reproduces substantial portions of their copyrighted content without permission. Perplexity AI, however, is not taking this lying down. The company expressed disappointment and surprise at the lawsuit, asserting that its tool allows people to access information about the world. It argues that its practice of listing sources and providing in-line citations for answers aligns with established legal precedents and is crucial for efficiently disseminating knowledge. Despite which side you stand on, there's a growing tension between traditional media and emerging AI technologies. While News Corp contends that Perplexity's actions threaten the sustainability of quality journalism, Perplexity maintains that collaboration, not litigation, is the path forward. The company points to its existing revenue-sharing programs with other publishers as evidence of its commitment to mutually beneficial relationships. As the legal battle unfolds, the outcome could have far-reaching implications for the future of AI-enhanced search engines and their interaction with copyrighted content. – AB |
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