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I was under the impression you could also pay the content producer directly to bypass ads, which is IMHO the ideal solution. Is this no longer viable?

• manigandham 7y ago
  No it's still possible, but doesn't seem viable. Microtransactions have been tried several times. We experimented ourselves. Very hard to get users to pay for something that has always been free, especially when the ads are already blocked.
  • drb91 7y ago
    Correct me if I’m wrong but micro-transactions have never been built into a browser people actually use. How do you figure that they have been tried before in any meaningful way?
  • tinus_hn 7y ago
    If the ad model collapses the content wouldn’t have been free.
• michaelbrooks 7y ago
  Viewing ads is completely optional and is off by default. All website ads are still blocked, the ads you are seeing are built into the browser.
• rchaud 7y ago
  It works when "pay the producer" is the default option, and not something you have to opt into. Also helps if you are serving a niche audience rather than a general one. The Stratechery website charges $10/mo for what is essentially a tech consultant's take on SV company product strategy. This is a narrow niche, and the site isn't one that will get millions of ad views. So there aren't any ads at all, and as a bonus, there aren't any throwaway blog posts designed to be shared on social media.