Eyeo GmbH, the company that makes the popular Adblock Plus software, will today start selling the very thing many of its users hate—advertisements. Today, the company is launching a self-service platform to sell "pre-whitelisted" ads that meet its "acceptable ads" criteria. [...]
"The Acceptable Ads Platform helps publishers who want to show an alternative, nonintrusive ad experience to users with ad blockers by providing them with a tool that lets them implement Acceptable Ads themselves,” said Till Faida, co-founder of Adblock Plus.
Publishers who place the ads will do so knowing that they won't be blocked by most of the 100 million Adblock Plus users. The software extension's default setting allows for "acceptable ads" to be shown, and more than 90 percent of its users don't change that default setting.
Eyeo started its "acceptable ads" program in 2011. With the new platform, it hopes to automate and scale up a process that until now has been a cumbersome negotiation. What once could take weeks, the company boasts in today's statement, now "takes only seconds."
[...] Earlier this year, Adblock showed its users Amnesty International ads promoting free speech—in the same spaces it had removed ads chosen by the publisher. (Adblock and Adblock Plus are different products.)
"It does blur the line," said Ben Williams, head of operations for Adblock Plus, at the time.
Mais c'est de la pub A-C-C-E-P-T-A-B-L-E, on vous dit, voyons ! Y'a la pub acceptable et y'a la mauvaise pub comme y'a les bons et les mauvais chasseurs, voyez.