Google’s AI search features are killing traffic to publishers, so now the company is proposing a possible solution. On Thursday, the tech giant officially launched Offerwall, a new tool that allows publishers to generate revenue beyond the more traffic-dependent options, like ads.
Offerwall lets publishers give their sites’ readers a variety of ways to access their content, including through options like micropayments, taking surveys, watching ads, and more. In addition, Google says that publishers can add their own options to the Offerwall, like signing up for newsletters.
The new feature is available for free in Google Ad Manager after earlier tests with 1,000 publishers that spanned over a year.
Image Credits:Google
Google notes that it’s also using AI to determine when to display the Offerwall to each site visitor to increase engagement and revenue. However, publishers can set their own thresholds before the Offerwall is displayed, if they prefer.
Many of the solutions Offerwall introduces have been tried by publishers before, across a range of products and services. Micropayments, for instance, have repeatedly failed to take off. The economics don’t tend to work, and there’s additional friction in having to pay per article that’s not been worth the payoff for readers or publishers alike, given implementation and maintenance costs.
A Twitter-like social networking startup called Post, backed by a16z, most recently tried to make micropayments work for publishers, but it ultimately shut down due to a lack of traction.
In Google’s case, it’s working with a third party, Supertab, which allows site visitors to pay a small amount to access the online content for a period of time — like 24 hours, a few days, a week, etc. The option (currently in beta) also supports subscription sign-ups and integrates with Google Ad Manager.
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Image Credits:Google
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