Hate Ads Online? How About Free Internet Access In Exchange For Watching Ads?

Online advertising is a tricky issue as every time I write a post related to it I expect tons of angry comments from readers insisting that they hate online ads and will never ever watch them - even if some of them admit that there’s nothing particularly wrong about the idea that a publisher of quality content deserves some compensation - be it a subscription payment or watching some ads. And my expectations will always prove to be true so I have learned not to take such comments to heart as a publisher myself.

Of course it is quite understandable that the vast majority of internet users hate ads and those who know how to avoid it are happy to do just that while there’s only a relatively small number of people who actually don’t mind watching ads because they realize that the content they enjoy needs to be paid for in some form. But today I have read about an interesting initiative of one Russian ISP - Comstar - that is going to change the attitude of internet users towards ads with one simple measure: offering internet access for free in exchange for watching some targeted ads.

The idea is basically that Comstar subscribers will have some new alternatives to their existing pricing plans: they will be offered to watch targeted ads from the companies working with the ISP and will receive significant discounts for the services they consume or will be able to enjoy better access speed for the same money they currently pay even though it should normally be more expensive.

This is the first experiment of this kind in Russia and the internet provider hopes that people are now more than willing to save money wherever they can and offering them cheaper services in exchange for watching some ads will be a viable alternative now that everyone is growing more and more cautious in everything involving cash.

The new idea suggested by Comstar means that the traditional model where a subscriber pays for internet access will be replaced with a new one where internet access for the subscriber is paid for by an advertiser - in full or in part. The survey carried out by the ISP has demonstrated that about 60% of all subscribers are willing to watch some ads in exchange for less expensive internet access. Besides, the subscribers actually tend to consider ads to be informative if they are targeted so they don’t mind watching them from time to time - and an additional bonus of a discount will make ads even more appealing and “informative” probably.

All in all, I believe this is definitely something worth trying and knowing that internet access is still pretty expensive in Russia and much more expensive than what you would pay in the US for the same quality of service I know that there are many people who will be totally happy to cut their internet bills a little - even if it will involve exposing oneself to advertising and promotion. Of course I don’t think such an idea will make people love ads but at least they will probably learn to tolerate advertising once they realize that ads can be turned into real cash - same as they do for internet publishers.