US news and culture publisher The Atlantic has given site visitors the choice of paying a fee or switching off their ad blockers as it seeks to make up $3.4m lost to ad blocking last year. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, editor-in-chief John Cook said that while he was "disappointed" by the decision, his company had been working on ways to address its ad-blocking problem. The Atlantic expects that up to 60% of ad blockers will leave the site when confronted with its new switch off or pay up message.
US news and culture publisher The Atlantic has given site visitors the choice of paying a fee or switching off their ad blockers as it seeks to make up $3.4m lost to ad blocking last year. The publisher introduced a soft-wall approach since last October in an effort to educate readers that "there is a real dependency on advertising", according to Kim Lau, SVP of digital and head of business development at the publication. The Atlantic expects that up to 60% of ad blockers will leave the site when confronted with its new switch off or pay up message.