Yipee Networks

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A security solution that, not only protects a publishers’ content, but also generates new revenue for him

MISSION

Our goal is to protect a publisher’s ad content and the revenue that’s associated with it. We do that by providing a solution that addresses the growing, and costly, problem ad blockers. This solution either converts consumers who use them into paying subscribers, stops them from blocking ads altogether, or makes the ads they do see less intrusive.

First, some background

The brief history of the music industry over the last 10 years

In 2000 Napster launches, capitalizing on consumer frustration over how music is sold and distributed.

Illegal downloads take off, prompting a legal backlash from the music industry

Industry partners with ISPs to identify and stop illegal downloaders

While music piracy still exists today, the advent of iTunes in 2005 largely kills off the problem.

Now a similar story is playing out

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The first ad blockers hit the market in 2005 capitalizing on consumer dissatisfaction with ads.

German publisher sues major ad blocker, Eyeo, but loses. For now, at least, Ad Blockers are deemed legal

Publishers are losing $7 billion a year—not unlike the situation faced by the music industry years ago. That number could increase when Apple adds ad blocking as a feature in iOS 9.

The evolution of the ad blocking phenomenon

Ad blocker usage quickly took off—in a big way.

The BIG lesson from the Napster/iTunes story: Give consumers a simple and easy way to pay, and it’s possible to turn a significant number of digital outlaws into paying customers.

“We noticed you have an ad blocker turned on. Perhaps you’d like to support The Guardian another way.”

Here’s how a consumer that uses an ad blocker might be prompted to subscribe

If the consumer elects not to subscribe, then the publisher can choose a number of other options including:

Disengage the ad blocker altogether

Reduce the number of ads on a page to a level the consumer might find more acceptable

The first step to bringing a publisher on board is to show him the scope of the problem. In the U.S. alone, 15% of consumers block ads, but the numbers are much higher elsewhere in the world.

The next step is to show the publisher-- in concrete dollar terms—exactly how ad blocking is affecting him directly.

The Washington Post

U.S. average ad block rate: 15%

Average monthly WP page views: 500 million

No. of monthly unique visitors: 40 million

No. ad blockers to pitch subscription option: 6 million

Assuming 1% convert: 60,000 new subs

No. of monthly page views blocked: 75 million

Estimated CPM: $5

Monthly lost revenue available for recovery: $375,000

For larger publishers, like The Washington Post, lost revenue associated with ad blocking is substantial

Java code and ad block reporting for publishers is free of charge

Three major payment options, each of which may appeal to a different types of publisher:

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• Free, but revenue share on subscriptions and recovered page views.
• No cost to publisher, but, instead, the publisher gives us an ad unit on every page to monetize.
• Flat monthly fee based on publisher’s size and scale.

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Even though we believe the value of this solution may be apparent, giving a publisher payment options that don’t necessarily involve any out-of-pocket expense is important to drive demand.

Whatever payment option the publisher elects, you still have to make it easy for him to implement. Just cut and paste some Java code.

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This software architecture that sits behind the Java code is called “Privoxy,” which is open source

Here’s one way that open source Privoxy code can be implemented to help protect publishers from ad blocking.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are uniquely well-positioned to distribute this kind solution because of their customer base, namely publishers, and their infrastructure.

A quick look at the ad blocking landscape