Google Contributor

Last updated
Google Contributor
Company typeSubsidiary of Google
Industry Mobile advertising
FoundedNovember 20, 2014;9 years ago (2014-11-20)
Parent Google
Website contributor.google.com

Google Contributor was a program run by Google that allowed users in the Google Network of content sites to view the websites without any advertisements that are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google.

Contents

The program launched publicly with prominent websites, like The Onion and Mashable among others, to test this service. After November 2015, the program opened up to any publisher who displayed ads on their websites through Google AdSense without requiring any sign-on from publishers. After November 2015, the program was available for everyone in the United States.

Google Contributor stopped accepting new registrations after December 2016 in preparation for a new version launch in early 2017. [1] On January 17, Google Contributor was shut down, with the landing page stating "We're launching a new and improved Contributor in early 2017!" [2]

In June 2017, the new Google Contributor was launched, but was shut down again. Some of the pages for Google Contributor still exist, but there is no way to sign up nor to log in, and the link for site owner help goes to a generic Google help page.

In August 2020, some websites were available for Google Contributor, such as MTL Blog. [3]

Background

Contributor was invented by Nemo Semret, [4] as a 20% Project. The system allowed users to view online content resources (webpages, video streams, mobile apps), without advertising, by automatically bidding for the publisher's ad slots in real-time on behalf of the user and competing against advertisers. Thus it was a market-based content micro-payment system, ensuring fewer ads for users, and at least as much revenue for publishers as they would get from ads.

Users could set a maximum monthly contribution starting at US$1.99 up to $14.99. [5] After February 2016, Google Contributor changed to a fixed subscription fee of $6.99. [6]

When the user visits any of the Contributor-supported websites, a small part of the contribution will go to the website owners. [7] The ad blocks, instead of displaying advertisement material, will, by default, display a thank you message with a pixel pattern. This pattern can be configured to contain cats or other patterns. [8]

In the implementation, Contributor bids for ad slots on the user's behalf using the standard Google ad auction system; if the user wins the auction, the Contributor image is placed in the ad space, and the cost of the ad is deducted from the user's monthly contribution. If the user does not win, the winning ad is displayed as normal and the user pays nothing for that slot. [9] The website owners are paid for the ad slot as normal, although the revenue could, in theory, be marginally higher due to an additional participant in the ad auction. [10]

With the new Google Contributor, each site set its own price independently. [11] This is a fixed price per page view. [12] Each time a visitor views a page, the corresponding fixed fee is deducted from the Contributor balance.

See also

Related Research Articles

Digital display advertising is online graphic advertising through banners, text, images, video, and audio. The main purpose of digital display advertising is to post company ads on third-party websites. A display ad is usually interactive, which allows brands and advertisers to engage deeper with the users. A display ad can also be a companion ad for a non-clickable video ad.

Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advertisements are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google. They can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google beta-tested a cost-per-action service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick offering. In Q1 2014, Google earned US$3.4 billion, or 22% of total revenue, through Google AdSense. AdSense is a participant in the AdChoices program, so AdSense ads typically include the triangle-shaped AdChoices icon. This program also operates on HTTP cookies. In 2021, over 38.3 million websites use AdSense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Ads</span> Online advertising platform owned by Google

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, and videos to web users. It can place ads in the results of search engines like Google Search, mobile apps, videos, and on non-search websites. Services are offered under a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model.

Click fraud is a type of fraud that occurs on the Internet in pay per click (PPC) online advertising. In this type of advertising, the owners of websites that post the ads are paid based on how many site visitors click on the ads. Fraud occurs when a person, automated script, computer program or an auto clicker imitates a legitimate user of a web browser, clicking on such an ad without having an actual interest in the target of the ad's link in order to increase revenue. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked.

Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods.

An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with the advertiser's demand. The phrase "ad network" by itself is media-neutral in the sense that there can be a "Television Ad Network" or a "Print Ad Network", but is increasingly used to mean "online ad network" as the effect of aggregation of publisher ad space and sale to advertisers is most commonly seen in the online space. The fundamental difference between traditional media ad networks and online ad networks is that online ad networks use a central ad server to deliver advertisements to consumers, which enables targeting, tracking and reporting of impressions in ways not possible with analog media alternatives.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adblock Plus</span> Content-filtering and ad blocking browser extension

Adblock Plus (ABP) is a free and open-source browser extension for content-filtering and ad blocking. It is developed by Eyeo GmbH, a German software company. The extension has been released for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser, and Android.

Contextual advertising refers to a form of targeted advertising for advertisements appearing on websites or other digital platforms, such as content displayed in mobile browsers. Contextual targeting involves the use of linguistic factors to control the placement of advertising material. The advertisements are selected and delivered by automated systems, taking into consideration the context of a user's search or browsing behaviour. As advertisers and marketers increasingly prioritise brand safety and suitability, contextual advertising has emerged as a crucial aspect in safeguarding the reputation and value of a brand.

Website monetization is the process of converting existing traffic being sent to a particular website into revenue. The most popular ways of monetizing a website are by implementing pay per click (PPC) and cost per impression (CPI/CPM) advertising. Various ad networks facilitate a webmaster in placing advertisements on pages of the website to benefit from the traffic the site is experiencing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.

Social network advertising, also known as "social media targeting," is a group of terms used to describe forms of online advertising and digital marketing focusing on social networking services. One of the significant benefits of this type of advertising is that advertisers can take advantage of the users' demographic information, psychographics and other data points to target their ads appropriately.

Ad rotation is the practice of showing multiple advertisements in a single location on a web page. Ads may be rotated with each new page load, within a single page load, or both. Because the ads are placed in the same location, they are typically the same format.

Project Wonderful was an advertising service created by programmer and webcomic author Ryan North in late 2006. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the service supported up thousands of webcomics and blogs with auctioned online advertisements, until it was shut down in 2018.

YouTube Premium is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming produced in collaboration with the site's creators, downloading videos and background playback of videos on mobile devices, and access to the music streaming service, YouTube Music.

Facebook Instant Articles is a feature from social networking company Facebook for use with collaborating news and content publishers, that the publisher can choose to use for articles they select. When a publisher selects an article for Instant Articles, people browsing Facebook in its mobile app can see the entire article within Facebook's app, with formatting very similar to that on the publisher's website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brave (web browser)</span> Chromium-based open-source web browser

Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc. based on the Chromium web browser. Brave is a privacy-focused browser, which automatically blocks most advertisements and website trackers in its default settings. Users can turn on optional ads that reward them for their attention in the form of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which can be used as a cryptocurrency or to make payments to registered websites and content creators.

Taboola is a public advertising company headquartered in New York City. The CEO of Taboola is Adam Singolda, who founded the company in 2007. It provides advertisements such as "Around the Web" and "Recommended for You" boxes at the bottom of many online news articles. These sponsored links on publishers' websites send readers to the websites of advertisers and other partners. These online thumbnail grid ads are also known as chumbox ads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advertising revenue</span> Income from displaying online ads

Advertising revenue is the monetary income that individuals and businesses earn from displaying paid advertisements on their websites, social media channels, or other platforms surrounding their internet-based content. In September 2018, the U.S Internet advertising market was estimated to be worth $111 billion, with market share being held mostly between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. These companies earn revenue through online advertising but also have initiated pathways for individual users and social media influencers to earn an income. Individuals and businesses can earn advertising revenue through advertising networks such as Google AdSense, YouTube monetization, or Outbrain.

References

  1. Aleksandersen, Daniel (2016-12-05). "Google Contributor program stops accepting new subscribers". Slight Future. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  2. "Google Contributor has been shut down". androidpolice.com. 17 January 2017.
  3. "MTL Blog". www.mtlblog.com. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  4. "Replacement of content items, US Patent 9959570".
  5. "Changing your contribution". Google Contributor Help. Google. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  6. Li, Abne (2016-02-09). "Revamped Google Contributor now starts at $6.99 to see fewer ads on the web". 9to5Google . Retrieved 2016-12-06.
  7. "Google Contributor: can I really pay to remove ads?". theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  8. "See cats and other ad replacement options - Contributor Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  9. "(Contributor Help) How the Google ad auction works" . Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  10. "(Contributor Help) Contributor and your site's revenue" . Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  11. "How Contributor works".
  12. "Pricing: Contributor Help".