Popular cryptocurrency-supported browsing application Brave announced today that they are launching the preview of their new digital advertising model.
The model is being launched in Brave’s Developer channel, allowing developers and testers to use the latest desktop macOS/Windows browser builds to activate the opt-in Brave Ads. These individuals are required to download the latest developer builds of Brave browser and then manually opt into the Brave Rewards program.
Ad display and delivery features will be tested out in this version of the development software, while advertiser confirmation or user payment for ad views apparently won’t be included yet. The ability to earn BAT (Basic Attention Tokens) for viewing ads will come several weeks later through the project’s beta channel.
Brave Ads feature is expected to be the main staple of the upcoming 1.0 version of the browser software. It will integrate various ad networks and brands, with the current test version including such advertizers like BuySellAds, TAP Network, AirSwap, Fluidity, and Uphold. Brave Ads will work as follows:
- Opt-in
Brave Ads are an opt-in feature, showing ads in the form of notifications to users as they browse the web, at a time that the browser finds appropriate and not disruptive. When users click to engage with these notifications, they’re presented with a full page ad in a private ad tab.
- Privacy by design
Unlike conventional digital ads, ad matching happens directly on the user’s device, so user data remains private. The data is never sent or leaked to anyone, including Brave.
- 70% revenue share to users
With the upcoming Brave Ads version 1.0 release, users will receive 70% of the gross ad revenue, reaping rewards for their attention while preserving their privacy. Interestingly enough, Brave receives the remaining 30%.
- Relevance
Brave will look to deliver localized ads, in a manner relevant to user’s entire browsing experience. Users will see rewarding ads that are more likely to interest them, without being subjected to web-wide mass surveillance and data collection.
The project released a short roadmap explaining the future rollout of Brave Ads. Phase 1 of this roadmap will see Brave utilize the so-called User Ads, which will “provide brands with direct opportunities to provide offers and engage with users as they browse the web”.
Read our comparison of Brave vs Firefox 2019 & 2020.
Phase 2 will deliver Publisher-integrated Ads, which will give the opportunity to Brave’s verified publishers (currently 28 thousand of them) to feature private ads on their websites/channels. While the 70/30 revenue sharing model remains (70% going to the verified publisher), the remaining 30% will be split between users that view and engage with the Publisher-integrated Ads and Brave.
While most of the community seemed happy about this recent development regarding Brave, others remained critical of the project. Reddit user GlovanH points out some often-cited issues with Brave
“Brave is a terrible product that’s just trying to act as a middleman. That 70% of revenue is collected and often doesn’t go to its stated targets unless those sites agree to partner with brave. Misleading and fraudulent.”
Brave clearly isn’t discouraged by these comments as they keep delivering regular updates and pushing towards the 1.0 release. You can check out a video preview of the new Brave Ads here. BAT’s price didn’t react much to the news, as the token remains priced at $0.12/3393 satoshi with almost 0 change during the last 24 hours.
