Back in February, Mozilla released a blog in which it discussed why the model of free internet with ads is a flawed system. The blog argues that most of the revenue is going to a select few publications outlet. And that majority of media websites are facing challenges in maintaining their platforms.
The solution? A paid subscription where users get access to publications from various news outlets with an ad-free experience. It is kind of link Apple News + where a monthly subscription lets users access hundreds of magazines and newspapers.
The price of ad-free news
The fees are set at $5, that may be less than the four screen Netflix subscription, but it’s unlikely it will see much sales in Pakistan. About the service, the company says:
“The service enables web users to pay for an ad-free experience on their favorite sites, across their devices. By enabling more direct funding of publishers, Scroll’s model may offer a compelling alternative in the ecosystem. We will be collaborating with Scroll to better understand consumer attitudes and interest towards an ad-free experience on the web as part of an alternative funding model.”
Mozilla is partnering up with Scroll, a news subscription startup for this venture. It’s part of Mozilla’s vision of a “Firefox Ad-free Internet.” This will be helpful for many publications who are seeing a decline in their ad income. Some of the popular news platforms like BuzzFeed, Gizmodo Media and others will be part of the program when it launches.
The program will launch sometime this October and will only be initially available for Firefox users.
Firefox VPN
Firefox VPN will soon become the “Firefox Private Network”. It will follow a similar subscription payment model with plans ranging from $5, $10, or $13 per month. Again, with free options available it may not see much use in Pakistan.
With both these services combined, Mozilla seems to be expanding its market to open up new sources of revenue. Previously, the company generated most of its revenue from a deal with Google to be the default search engine in the Firefox browser.
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