When I first heard of contributor I got excited that Google might be pivoting their revenue flow. Recognizing that ad revenue days may be numbered due to the in

When I first heard of contributor I got excited that Google might be pivoting their revenue flow. Recognizing that ad revenue days may be numbered due to the increasing popularity of ad blockers, I figured Google was turning into an automatic version of flattr. Unfortunately I've heard contributor works by out-bidding all the other ads on the site so, assuming that's true, I'd say this is just an attempt to increase bidding competition to drive up ad prices.