Latest news with #Offerwall
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Launches ‘Offerwall' to Help Publishers Maintain Monetization Opportunities
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. As its AI previews cut referral traffic, Google's looking to help publishers continue to generate income, via a new promotional offering that will enable them to effectively gate their content, in order to drive more subscriptions, showcase more ads, etc. Google's new 'Offerwall' system gives web publishers the option to add an additional pop-up alert when users visit their website, providing another means to drive direct action. As you can see in this example, with Offerwall, publishers can insert additional promotions between content access. As explained by Google: 'When publishers choose to use Offerwall, they can offer audiences a number of ways to access content. People might decide to watch a short ad, complete a quick survey or pay in micro payments. Publishers can even add their own options, like newsletter sign-ups. These options empower audiences to decide how they want to access publishers' sites and help ensure diverse content remains available to everyone.' So it's pop-up ads, controlled via Google, as opposed to inserting them on your own website. Google says that publishers will be able to control where its Offerwall pop-ups appear, and can use URL exclusions to limit disrupton. 'You can also set thresholds to determine when site visitors will see the Offerwall message within a certain period of time, helping guard against showing the message too often.' But even so, these are just pop-up ads, and given that disruptive pop-ups have never been popular, I'm not sure that this is going to be a major boost for most publishers, especially as a means to counter losses in traffic as a result of Google Answers. Which have already been significant. According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Google's AI answers have cut referral traffic to some big-name publishers by 50% or more already, while other reports referred to by the BBC estimate that AI Overviews have cut website click-though rates from Google by between 30% and 70%. And with more Google AI products coming online, those impacts are expected to worsen over time. Which is why Google's now trying to offer alternatives, and additional pathways to keep publishers making money, and keep them fueling its search results. Because without the content to fuel its system, Google won't have anything to show users, and there is a risk that the system could end up eating itself, by cutting revenue for the creators and publishers that have enabled those same AI systems. Offerwall is another consideration on this front, providing a means to publishers to build their own audience lists via Google referrals, even if they click from an AI result. 'After testing with more than 1,000 publishers, Offerwall is now generally available in Ad Manager. We're also introducing new features, including Optimize, which uses AI to determine when to show the Offerwall for each visitor to increase engagement and revenue.' Yeah, I mean, it's something, for sure, but it's no different from enabling pop-ups on your own site, and there's no reason to think that the click-through rates for such are going to be any different. General click-throughs on pop-ups are pretty low, and if you gate your content, that could also risk annoying readers, as much as driving more growth opportunities. But again, it is something, and with publishers seeking alternatives, this is another option on the table. Recommended Reading A 7-Step Guide to a More Effective Content Strategy [Infographic] Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As AI kills search traffic, Google launches Offerwall to boost publisher revenue
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 micro payments, 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 now in Google Ad Manager after earlier tests with 1,000 publishers that spanned over a year. 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. Micro payments, 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 micro payments 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 signups and integrates with Google Ad Manager. Google notes that publishers can also configure Offerwall to include their own logo and introductory text, then customize the choices it presents. One option that's enabled by default has visitors watch a short ad to earn access to the publisher's content. Another option has visitors click to choose from a set of topics they're interested in, which is then saved and used for ads personalization. Having a more integrated solution could help publishers experiment with different monetization options, without having to commit significant time and resources to those tests. Notably, Google's announcement didn't share any results of its early tests with publishers or present any successful case studies. However, early reports during the testing period said that publishers saw an average revenue lift of 9% after 1 million messages on AdSense, for viewing rewarded ads. Google Ad Manager customers saw a 5-15% lift when using Offerwall as well. Google says publishers can view metrics associated with Offerwall in Google Ads Manager reports. These include things like estimated Offerwall revenue, number of Offerwall messages shown, Offerwall successful engagement, and post-Offerwall page views.
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
As AI kills search traffic, Google launches Offerwall to boost publisher revenue
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 micro payments, 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 now in Google Ad Manager after earlier tests with 1,000 publishers that spanned over a year. 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. Micro payments, 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 micro payments 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 signups and integrates with Google Ad Manager. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Google notes that publishers can also configure Offerwall to include their own logo and introductory text, then customize the choices it presents. One option that's enabled by default has visitors watch a short ad to earn access to the publisher's content. Another option has visitors click to choose from a set of topics they're interested in, which is then saved and used for ads personalization. Having a more integrated solution could help publishers experiment with different monetization options, without having to commit significant time and resources to those tests. Notably, Google's announcement didn't share any results of its early tests with publishers or present any successful case studies. However, early reports during the testing period said that publishers saw an average revenue lift of 9% after 1 million messages on AdSense, for viewing rewarded ads. Google Ad Manager customers saw a 5-15% lift when using Offerwall as well. Google says publishers can view metrics associated with Offerwall in Google Ads Manager reports. These include things like estimated Offerwall revenue, number of Offerwall messages shown, Offerwall successful engagement, and post-Offerwall page views.
