Adblock Plus and Flattr help sites earn money from donations even if visitors block ads
Adblock Plus has for some time tried to find a way to balance the needs of websites to display money-making ads, with the preferences of visitors who do not want to see such ads. After experimenting with its Acceptable Ads program whereby some discrete ads are allowed to slip through the net, Eyeo, the company responsible for Adblock Plus, is teaming up with Flattr to give sites another way to make money.
The scheme is called Flattr Plus, and it gives people the chance to pay a monthly subscription to access content on sites. It's a similar idea to an existing payment option run by Flattr, but the monthly subscription is used as an alternative to paying for access to individual articles.
Users are able to decide the amount of money they would like to pay out each month. Flattr Plus then uses an algorithm to analyze users' browsing and article consumption, and uses metrics such as length of time spent reading articles to determine how to distribute the monthly fee. It is also possible to opt to give a favorite site a larger share of the subscription.
Flattr Plus is currently in beta testing, and people are invited to sign up for early access to help test out the algorithm. Websites that are interested in participating in the scheme are also encouraged to sign up. The company says:
Flattr Plus automates your micropayments for great content
It's hands-off, you don’t have to click on an extra button or enter your payment details for each site. It all happens automatically while you surf!
Our smart algorithm knows which sites you engage with and will apportion the according amount of your budget to that site.
The ultimate aim is to integrate Flattr Plus into Adblock Plus, but it's not clear quite how far off this might be at this stage.
Check out the introductory video to find out more: