AdGate, a paywall funded by advertisers, launches
Australian media technology company Winr has launched an advertiser-funded paywall to support publishers and supplement the decline in the performance of display ads.
AdGate paywalls appear part-way through an article and ask a reader to unlock the rest of the article by engaging with it.
AdGate’s paywalls appear as interactive ads
Perry Lyndon-James, Winr’s co-founder and head of product, explained AdGate is a win-win-win for every party involved.
I don’t know if it’s really engagement if the content is essentially held to ransom from the user. Either they will click the button, slide the slider or whatever while ignoring the message entirely or they will get pissed off at the advertiser for doing this to them.
Forcing people to see your ad doesn’t count as engagement in my books. True engagement only happens when people enjoy the ad experience, either through great creative or an interesting execution.
I wouldn’t recommend my clients use this product, will be interesting to see how they go.