I love this topic and my friends always give me crap for my opinions on it.
I'm completely with landbeforetimelover on this one.
The fact that AdBlock exists at all is basically saying to the Internet that "The people have spoken!" and that we won't tolerate that form of monetization anymore.
This presents an interesting challenge to internet content creators: Internet content is an interesting case because there isn't any traditional "transaction" going on; there is no "I want your X. I'll pay you Y money to get your X" scenario here.
Instead, the content consumer is LITERALLY required to pay in INCONVENIENCE. In TIME.
This brings up another interesting point:
If I were to skirt around Steam's shop system somehow and download a game for free to my account, that would be considered THEFT and am legally responsible for this as theft - I'm taking a digital product without paying for it by circumventing the monetization system in place.
In the case of AdBlock, however, if I visit a streaming video with AdBlock on a website, I'm STILL circumventing the monitization system in place to get a product for zero cost. The only difference is, rather than getting it free of money, I'm getting it free of inconvenience. At this time, this is NOT considered theft in any legal sense and the only difference is what is being given up by the consumer.
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I completely agree that we need to somehow evolve beyond ad revenue driving free internet content. Consumers are no longer tolerating it and there are completely legal, simple ways to circumvent this entire system. Imagine if our ECONOMY was this easy to circumvent! The world would collapse!! Guess what! The internet has become a big part of the world economy!
It's only a matter of time before either
1) Ad blocking becomes illegal for the same reason that theft is illegal (which seems unlikely as hell and near-impossible to police without wicked amounts of privacy intrusion)
or
2) Content creators need to find another way to monetize because ad revenue will be considered an archaic, primitive, disrespectful-to-the-consumer way to earn their money. It will be shunned and be a way to instantly lose your entire audience, similar to how pay-to-win has become an instant stigma for online games in recent years.
I really don't think ad revenue-driven content is the future. Consumers won't stand for it. The very fact that adblockers exist and are some of the most popular browser addons is proof of this.
Why don't consumers stand for it? Honestly, I think it's simple: There's no need to! Consumers don't like paying more than they have to for anything - it's unwise to do so! Consumers feel cheated and taken-advantage of if they pay more than that. We have words for that: "Screwed"; "getting ripped off" etc. It's something consumers actively AVOID.
I've never gone to wal-mart and given then a little extra money "just because I want to support them". It's ludicrous to most people to do that and makes no economic sense.
In a similar vein, it makes no sense to use the internet without adblock installed. A minority will disable adblock for the sake of "supporting the content creator" but I really feel like this is just making the problem worse and slowing down the evolution of monetization by encouraging the behaviour. To me that's the equivalent of saying "no, you don't have to give me a discount just because it's on sale. I support you so I'll pay full price." Ludicrous!
The system as a whole has evolved to no longer support ad revenue as a monetization scheme. Everyone has an unlimited supply of "get this free!" coupons that they can choose to use on any ad-driven online service. Morality is the only thing preventing people from not exploiting this. It's baffling because, as said before, it makes absolutely NO economic sense NOT to use your coupons when they just magically appear in your wallet and you have an infinite number of them!
At the end of the day, economics will overrule "morality".
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As for a solution?
Make money the old fashioned way: Sell people stuff!
If people think your material is worth spending money on it, they will! We've seen this time-and-time again with arguments such as "supporting the content creator". We see sales of blu-rays of their content. We see CD and digital music downloads. We see custom artwork.
There are ways to market your product directly without relying on plugging in some generic ad-revenue system. Rather than making money off traffic, make money by making something that people actually want to BUY.
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Content creators:
People aren't assholes (generally). You can give them a fair deal and they're fine with it! People WILL support you if you make it worth their while. Right now, it's NOT worth my while to turn off adblock. Yeah I could disable it for certain sites, blah blah blah...that's a pain. This also does something very interesting:
It puts control...a CHOICE of whether or not you get paid for your product...in MY hands. That's not how economics works. Economics expects there to be a TRANSACTION:
I give you X. You give me Y.
With adblock, the consumer can LITERALLY turn off the "I give you X" part of the equation. This completely breaks economics as we know it. Putting that much power on one side is really a powder keg waiting to blow. It's the most unhealthy thing that could exist in an economy. I'll say it again: The consumer CAN CHOOSE whether or not the producer actually gets paid, regardless of how much product is consumed! That's so mind-blowing! That effectively turns your entire business model into "donation only".
As a consumer, I don't want to have to bother doing all that. Don't force me to think about morality and whether or not I want you to get credit for your work on my visit here. That's not why I'm here! I just want to enjoy your content! Let me enjoy your content and GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT I WANT TO BUY FROM YOU and I'll buy it from you! If you offer your best content for free and expect me to pay for stuff I don't want, I'm sorry but I'm not giving you any money. If you offer cool stuff for money and I like the stuff I HAVE seen from you, sure, I just might buy it!
Here'a an example: Many online shows offer blu-rays of their online content with some extras. I may really enjoy the online show, which I can watch for free with adblock on. This means you're getting zero revenue from me. Will I buy your blu-ray? Honestly...probably not. A few of us will but a lot of of won't. Why? We've already seen 95% of your content and the only stuff on the blu-ray will probably be stuff that didn't make the cut.
What does this example tell me? Maybe making an online show really isn't that profitable once you take away the ad-revenue. You need to expand out your business and use the online show as a way to grow your audience. Accept that the online show may actually have to run at a loss in order to drive the rest of your business. Just because you have the online show doesn't mean that show is your direct primary source of income. Sell me something cool outside of the show and I'll check it out!
At the end of the day though, maybe online shows just aren't that profitable on their own without ad revenue. Now for my point? THAT ISN'T MY PROBLEM AS A CONSUMER. If what you're trying to sell me can't be monetized, that's your problem. If you depend on ad revenue for your income and we can just adblock it, that's your problem for not diversifying enough in a world where you KNOW adblock exists. Don't blame me for running adblock.
Stop exploiting "clickbait" techniques to drive traffic and view numbers. Start actually marketing the thing you're offering to your audience.
In this world, SERVICES have also become very valuable! Offer TIME with your customers! If they buy or donate, spend time with them in a skype chat or something! Give them a little one-of-a-kind extra something. Making the audience feel special is a great way to improve your image and make money without resorting to ad revenue. A tip of the hat goes a long way!
I hate to say it, but if you can't make money and you're getting ad-blocked to death....so be it! Your product didn't make the cut. Don't blame ad-block. You just didn't evolve. You become too reliant on an outdated monetization scheme.