8 ms·

Brave launches Search Ads in key markets after successful test phase

32 points by LorenDB 2y ago

roenxi 2y ago
Looks a lot like Brave's overall strategy (not just this announcement but the whole gist of the company) is to try and tap in to a part of Google's revenue stream by innovating in the web browser space. It is a bold one if so and I wish them every success. It is a pity the managers over at Mozilla don't think Google is worth challenging. If someone ever succeeds at dragging AdSense into the OSS world / a big free market the world would be very different. There might finally find a use case for crypto. I suppose the fraud might be too much, but there must be an interesting commercial model in there somewhere.
- slig 2y ago
  > It is a pity the managers over at Mozilla don't think Google is worth challenging It's not an easy thing to do when they get half a billion a year from Google.
  - influx 2y ago
    Google pays them off not to innovate or launch anything that would compete with their search monopoly.
    - slig 2y ago
      Yes, it's so clear what the deal is.
- kibwen 2y ago
  > If someone ever succeeds at dragging AdSense into the OSS world The absolute last thing I want is for the OSS world to fall prey to the perverse incentives of the ad industry. Advertising needs to be purged, not embraced.
  - tialaramex 2y ago
    Advertising is potentially useful, it's the scale that's a problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g Like, "Every inch of the new park is covered in sponsor branding" is a problem, but "I had no idea that a store selling towels opened in our town" is also a problem. These are both advertising, at some point you cross from "I didn't know about that, thanks" to "Just fuck off already" and that's too much advertising. Dispepsi for example, the Negativland album, is premised on the idea that everybody on the entire planet already knows about Coca-Cola and Pepsi, so their continued advertising is entirely futile. Nobody who wants a brown fizzy beverage is unsure whether they could obtain such a thing or what it might be called. So all they're doing is annoying us.
    - chicagojoe 2y ago
      The other purpose of the ad is to keep the product top of mind. Those bubbles-and-ice ads aren't to introduce you to the concept but to remind you that you want one - now.
      - tialaramex 2y ago
        Sure, there are a lot of potential rationales offered for more and more, and more advertising. But when I looked into it, awareness was literally the only one with clear statistical evidence that independent researchers had gone yeah, that actually works. If you don't tell any customers your product exists, that's definitely not going to help sell more. Story checks out. Beyond that? I haven't seen the evidence. Obviously the guy at the TV network is not going to tell Jim from Ad Co. that it's futile to advertise Pepsi because everybody knows about Pepsi. And Jim isn't going tell Pepsi's Head of Marketing that it's futile to spend money with Ad Co. because Pepsi makes up a noticeable part of Jim's annual sales bonus. The Head of Marketing would no longer have a job if they stopped advertising, so no fear they will spontaneously realise. All of them will prefer to make up stories for why it makes sense to spend more and more and more on advertising, because they all benefit. But does it actually work?
      - Steven420 2y ago
- servus45678981 2y ago
  ADS are cancerous just like crypto stuff. That is the reason I switched to firefox klar & esr on my dailydriver machines and to librewolf on any other machine I had lying around. And search engine wise ecosia, metager and Qwant do a great job.
  - NayamAmarshe 2y ago
    Brave Search has been a lot better than these other alternatives in my experience. I used to use DDG but the results were always a hit and miss. With Brave Search, I have completely replaced Google.
    - servus45678981 2y ago
      Especially Metager is real competition to brave search as it using so many sources that it even outlived the ddg/bing attacks.
Takennickname 2y ago
Does Brave ad blocker block these ads? Or does it only block competing ads?
- mp3geek 2y ago
  Yes, Brave will block via Aggressive mode in Shields.
- NayamAmarshe 2y ago
  Brave does not block native ads (except for Google’s) on any website. All third party embedded ads are blocked by default.
  - Takennickname 2y ago
    So it blocks Google search ads, but not brave search ads?
    - NayamAmarshe 2y ago
      No, it doesn't block Google's sponsored ads. It blocks embedded ads that track you.
- worksonmine 2y ago
  1 - The initial idea to create Brave was to allow users to view ads and get paid for their attention. 2 - They've been caught replacing affiliate links with their own. Based on that information what does your instinct tell you?
  - soundnote 2y ago
    How do people keep peddling #2, when it isn't even factually correct on what happened? Sure, presume malice on the campaign links to Binance, but the bug was about turning people writing binance.us IN THE ADDRESS BAR into a campaign link, not replacing anyone's affiliate links on web pages, which is how it's always presented as.
  - 2y ago
pleone 2y ago
I'm the only one wondering why that should be a (good) news? I mean: are the user rewarded for the attention (the logic behind BAT) or it's just another search engine with another search ads ? Mine is an honest question, not a complaining.
- soundnote 2y ago
  An indenpendent search engine that doesn't track you seems like a good thing to me. Remember, half the nastiness of modern ads is that they track you and are also pretty heavy. In a search engine it's much easier to get the targeting from your search query without tracking you - something eg. DuckDuckGo also does. Helps keep the lights on.
- rchaud 2y ago
  Been using Brave Android since 2017, have never used BAT or whatever "value-add" bloatware they've offered. It can be disabled from the menu, two taps max.
hgyjnbdet 2y ago
Why would you even use brave? You want to view advertisements just use Chrome. If you don't there's Firefox and ublock origin.
- tomr75 2y ago
  ublock origin works on chrome
  - paulryanrogers 2y ago
    But won't work as well once Manifest V2 is dropped from Chrome
  - gpm 2y ago
    It "works" on chrome, but it works best on firefox: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b... And google keeps threatening to make it not work at all on Chrome. Most recently, yesterday [1], with warning banners harassing users supposedly rolling out on Monday. [1] https://blog.chromium.org/2024/05/manifest-v2-phase-out-begins.html?m=1 https://blog.chromium.org/2024/05/manifest-v2-phase-out-begi...
- Justsignedup 2y ago
  its a one-click stop for most people. Though all I can think of is: "All ads are bad, block them... except for mine."
- drexlspivey 2y ago
  It’s one of the few options (the only other being Orion afaik) that you can natively block ads from the browser on iOS. The other solutions like firefox/chrome/safari have to go through the declarative content blocking API since you can’t install Chrome/Firefox plugins.
  - ajdude 2y ago
    Which is why I happily use Orion without having to deal with that noise
wubrr 2y ago
[flagged]
- johnsea 2y ago
  I use it (there are always trade-offs). It's by far the best and most convenient browser for me, I run it on all my devices. What are you using instead?
  - wubrr 2y ago
    Firefox, Chrome. Much faster, you can actually block ads with ublock, etc. What is the benefit of Brave over those?
- newZWhoDis 2y ago
  Brave works great on my machines. What do you dislike?
  - pixxel 2y ago
    It’s one of the ‘bad things’ the tribe must dislike.
  - wubrr 2y ago
    Slow, and full of ads/tracking.
    - cactusplant7374 2y ago
      It blocks trackers and third party ads.
_spduchamp 2y ago
So, Brave is now tossed onto the enshitification pile? Recommended replacement?
- zaphod420 2y ago
  Firefox.
- CubsFan1060 2y ago
  I really am hoping that Orion is a thing that works out.
ein0p 2y ago
Coincidentally I’ve noticed a significant drop in quality of results, even though I don’t see any ads yet. It is well known that relevance and click through rate (CTR) are inversely correlated. Was the deterioration in relevance “prep work” for ads?
llmblockchain 2y ago
Brave is shilled by so many tech "influencers" on Youtube you would assume it's a decent browser. These are privacy focused people. People that promote and use Linux daily and they're using a browser that is one step away from Google. What a joke.
- cactusplant7374 2y ago
  Linus did a good overview of Brave. https://youtu.be/YnSv8ylLfPw?t=135 https://youtu.be/YnSv8ylLfPw?t=135
- AlexandrB 2y ago
  Are these paid promotions? Youtube influencers shill so many dubious sponsored products in general they've become very easy to ignore since one can assume it's all trash. Short list of other YouTube trash I'm never touching: * OperaGX * NordVPN * SurfShark * RidgeWallet * BetterHelp * And the granddaddy of all trash sponsorships - Raid: Shadow Legends
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - llmblockchain 2y ago
    * Vercel * Planet Scale * Supabase * Neon * ...
  - wubrr 2y ago
    All of the VPN shillers/advertizers on youtube should arguably be demonetized/banned for spreading 100% false information.
4sellff 2y ago
Advertising is not the problem. The current ad system is to blame. A different ad model is needed. One that is built using privacy, choice and rewards. User data and activity is not collected. Users have the choice to engage or ignore. And, if they choose to engage, they are compensated. Money flows directly from the seller to the buyer. We built this solution and call it Sellff Offers. It’s an alternative model that works the opposite of AdTech. Although just launched, we think Sellff Offers is the future of digital advertising. https://sellff.com/offers https://sellff.com/offers
- dwb 2y ago
  I disagree. I abhor advertising primarily because it non-consensually and obnoxiously competes for my attention. (the privacy thing is also bad of course)
geodel 2y ago
This is great news. I hope they will be able to beat Google in Ad game. Customers have spoken, they need ads, they want ads and they love ads. I mean thats the reason all streaming service are now pushing ads after years claiming the ad-free viewing is superior experience. They are admitting to the fact people love 30 min show end up in one hour because of ads. Adding additional ads is future I am looking forward to.
- rchaud 2y ago
  American capitalism is structured such that the disrupters that are anointed to take on the incumbent monopolist are all just temporarily embarrassed monopolists themselves.
deepfriedrice 2y ago
Brave search has been so terrible for me. I’ve very quickly been conditioned to append “!g” to all omnibar searches, even in non-brave browsers! (This tells brave to use Google)

32 points by LorenDB 2y ago

Looks a lot like Brave's overall strategy (not just this announcement but the whole gist of the company) is to try and tap in to a part of Google's revenue stream by innovating in the web browser space. It is a bold one if so and I wish them every success. It is a pity the managers over at Mozilla don't think Google is worth challenging. If someone ever succeeds at dragging AdSense into the OSS world / a big free market the world would be very different. There might finally find a use case for crypto. I suppose the fraud might be too much, but there must be an interesting commercial model in there somewhere.

slig 2y ago
> It is a pity the managers over at Mozilla don't think Google is worth challenging It's not an easy thing to do when they get half a billion a year from Google.
- influx 2y ago
  Google pays them off not to innovate or launch anything that would compete with their search monopoly.
  - slig 2y ago
    Yes, it's so clear what the deal is.
kibwen 2y ago
> If someone ever succeeds at dragging AdSense into the OSS world The absolute last thing I want is for the OSS world to fall prey to the perverse incentives of the ad industry. Advertising needs to be purged, not embraced.
- tialaramex 2y ago
  Advertising is potentially useful, it's the scale that's a problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g Like, "Every inch of the new park is covered in sponsor branding" is a problem, but "I had no idea that a store selling towels opened in our town" is also a problem. These are both advertising, at some point you cross from "I didn't know about that, thanks" to "Just fuck off already" and that's too much advertising. Dispepsi for example, the Negativland album, is premised on the idea that everybody on the entire planet already knows about Coca-Cola and Pepsi, so their continued advertising is entirely futile. Nobody who wants a brown fizzy beverage is unsure whether they could obtain such a thing or what it might be called. So all they're doing is annoying us.
  - chicagojoe 2y ago
    The other purpose of the ad is to keep the product top of mind. Those bubbles-and-ice ads aren't to introduce you to the concept but to remind you that you want one - now.
    - tialaramex 2y ago
      Sure, there are a lot of potential rationales offered for more and more, and more advertising. But when I looked into it, awareness was literally the only one with clear statistical evidence that independent researchers had gone yeah, that actually works. If you don't tell any customers your product exists, that's definitely not going to help sell more. Story checks out. Beyond that? I haven't seen the evidence. Obviously the guy at the TV network is not going to tell Jim from Ad Co. that it's futile to advertise Pepsi because everybody knows about Pepsi. And Jim isn't going tell Pepsi's Head of Marketing that it's futile to spend money with Ad Co. because Pepsi makes up a noticeable part of Jim's annual sales bonus. The Head of Marketing would no longer have a job if they stopped advertising, so no fear they will spontaneously realise. All of them will prefer to make up stories for why it makes sense to spend more and more and more on advertising, because they all benefit. But does it actually work?
    - Steven420 2y ago
servus45678981 2y ago
ADS are cancerous just like crypto stuff. That is the reason I switched to firefox klar & esr on my dailydriver machines and to librewolf on any other machine I had lying around. And search engine wise ecosia, metager and Qwant do a great job.
- NayamAmarshe 2y ago
  Brave Search has been a lot better than these other alternatives in my experience. I used to use DDG but the results were always a hit and miss. With Brave Search, I have completely replaced Google.
  - servus45678981 2y ago
    Especially Metager is real competition to brave search as it using so many sources that it even outlived the ddg/bing attacks.

Takennickname 2y ago

Does Brave ad blocker block these ads? Or does it only block competing ads?

mp3geek 2y ago
Yes, Brave will block via Aggressive mode in Shields.
NayamAmarshe 2y ago
Brave does not block native ads (except for Google’s) on any website. All third party embedded ads are blocked by default.
- Takennickname 2y ago
  So it blocks Google search ads, but not brave search ads?
  - NayamAmarshe 2y ago
    No, it doesn't block Google's sponsored ads. It blocks embedded ads that track you.
worksonmine 2y ago
1 - The initial idea to create Brave was to allow users to view ads and get paid for their attention. 2 - They've been caught replacing affiliate links with their own. Based on that information what does your instinct tell you?
- soundnote 2y ago
  How do people keep peddling #2, when it isn't even factually correct on what happened? Sure, presume malice on the campaign links to Binance, but the bug was about turning people writing binance.us IN THE ADDRESS BAR into a campaign link, not replacing anyone's affiliate links on web pages, which is how it's always presented as.
- 2y ago

pleone 2y ago

I'm the only one wondering why that should be a (good) news? I mean: are the user rewarded for the attention (the logic behind BAT) or it's just another search engine with another search ads ? Mine is an honest question, not a complaining.

soundnote 2y ago
An indenpendent search engine that doesn't track you seems like a good thing to me. Remember, half the nastiness of modern ads is that they track you and are also pretty heavy. In a search engine it's much easier to get the targeting from your search query without tracking you - something eg. DuckDuckGo also does. Helps keep the lights on.
rchaud 2y ago
Been using Brave Android since 2017, have never used BAT or whatever "value-add" bloatware they've offered. It can be disabled from the menu, two taps max.

hgyjnbdet 2y ago

Why would you even use brave? You want to view advertisements just use Chrome. If you don't there's Firefox and ublock origin.

tomr75 2y ago
ublock origin works on chrome
- paulryanrogers 2y ago
  But won't work as well once Manifest V2 is dropped from Chrome
- gpm 2y ago
  It "works" on chrome, but it works best on firefox: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b... And google keeps threatening to make it not work at all on Chrome. Most recently, yesterday [1], with warning banners harassing users supposedly rolling out on Monday. [1] https://blog.chromium.org/2024/05/manifest-v2-phase-out-begins.html?m=1 https://blog.chromium.org/2024/05/manifest-v2-phase-out-begi...
Justsignedup 2y ago
its a one-click stop for most people. Though all I can think of is: "All ads are bad, block them... except for mine."
drexlspivey 2y ago
It’s one of the few options (the only other being Orion afaik) that you can natively block ads from the browser on iOS. The other solutions like firefox/chrome/safari have to go through the declarative content blocking API since you can’t install Chrome/Firefox plugins.
- ajdude 2y ago
  Which is why I happily use Orion without having to deal with that noise

wubrr 2y ago

[flagged]

johnsea 2y ago
I use it (there are always trade-offs). It's by far the best and most convenient browser for me, I run it on all my devices. What are you using instead?
- wubrr 2y ago
  Firefox, Chrome. Much faster, you can actually block ads with ublock, etc. What is the benefit of Brave over those?
newZWhoDis 2y ago
Brave works great on my machines. What do you dislike?
- pixxel 2y ago
  It’s one of the ‘bad things’ the tribe must dislike.
- wubrr 2y ago
  Slow, and full of ads/tracking.
  - cactusplant7374 2y ago
    It blocks trackers and third party ads.

_spduchamp 2y ago

So, Brave is now tossed onto the enshitification pile? Recommended replacement?

zaphod420 2y ago
Firefox.
CubsFan1060 2y ago
I really am hoping that Orion is a thing that works out.

ein0p 2y ago

Coincidentally I’ve noticed a significant drop in quality of results, even though I don’t see any ads yet. It is well known that relevance and click through rate (CTR) are inversely correlated. Was the deterioration in relevance “prep work” for ads?

llmblockchain 2y ago

Brave is shilled by so many tech "influencers" on Youtube you would assume it's a decent browser. These are privacy focused people. People that promote and use Linux daily and they're using a browser that is one step away from Google. What a joke.

cactusplant7374 2y ago
Linus did a good overview of Brave. https://youtu.be/YnSv8ylLfPw?t=135 https://youtu.be/YnSv8ylLfPw?t=135
AlexandrB 2y ago
Are these paid promotions? Youtube influencers shill so many dubious sponsored products in general they've become very easy to ignore since one can assume it's all trash. Short list of other YouTube trash I'm never touching: * OperaGX * NordVPN * SurfShark * RidgeWallet * BetterHelp * And the granddaddy of all trash sponsorships - Raid: Shadow Legends
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- llmblockchain 2y ago
  * Vercel * Planet Scale * Supabase * Neon * ...
- wubrr 2y ago
  All of the VPN shillers/advertizers on youtube should arguably be demonetized/banned for spreading 100% false information.

4sellff 2y ago

Advertising is not the problem. The current ad system is to blame. A different ad model is needed. One that is built using privacy, choice and rewards. User data and activity is not collected. Users have the choice to engage or ignore. And, if they choose to engage, they are compensated. Money flows directly from the seller to the buyer. We built this solution and call it Sellff Offers. It’s an alternative model that works the opposite of AdTech. Although just launched, we think Sellff Offers is the future of digital advertising. https://sellff.com/offers https://sellff.com/offers

dwb 2y ago
I disagree. I abhor advertising primarily because it non-consensually and obnoxiously competes for my attention. (the privacy thing is also bad of course)

geodel 2y ago

This is great news. I hope they will be able to beat Google in Ad game. Customers have spoken, they need ads, they want ads and they love ads. I mean thats the reason all streaming service are now pushing ads after years claiming the ad-free viewing is superior experience. They are admitting to the fact people love 30 min show end up in one hour because of ads. Adding additional ads is future I am looking forward to.

rchaud 2y ago
American capitalism is structured such that the disrupters that are anointed to take on the incumbent monopolist are all just temporarily embarrassed monopolists themselves.

deepfriedrice 2y ago

Brave search has been so terrible for me. I’ve very quickly been conditioned to append “!g” to all omnibar searches, even in non-brave browsers! (This tells brave to use Google)