The Financial Times removed words from stories to convince readers to whitelist its site. 47% agreed

By Ricardo Bilton 

Hope isn’t lost for media organizations trying to get readers to stop blocking their ads. Maybe all they have to do is ask.

In July, The Financial Times ran a 30-day experiment to see what it would take to get people to whitelist the site in their adblocking software. Fifteen thousand of its registered users were split into three groups, each of which had access restricted in different ways. One group, for example, was presented with FT stories that had some of their words removed, a metaphor for the share of revenue that comes from advertising. Other readers weren’t able to access the site at all unless they opted in to ads. Readers were also given a message: “We understand your decision to use an ad blocker. However, FT journalism takes time and funding…”

The Financial Times says readers responded well to the experiment. Forty-seven percent of those who had to read stories with missing words agreed to whitelist the site, while 69 percent of users barred from the site entirely agreed to let ads through. And 40 percent of those whose access wasn’t restricted at all opted out of blocking ads.

The experiment shows that, in many case, the most effective anti-adblocking technique is also the most simple: talking directly to readers. The relationship between media organizations and readers online operates via an implicit contract: Publishers offer readers content for free, and in exchange, readers see those publishers’ ads. Making that implicit contract more explicit reminds readers of that dynamic and encourages them to support the sites they read.

Read the full article in Nieman Lab

And learn how Zuora helps newspapers such as The Financial Times and The Guardian win in the Subscription Economy!

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