US publisher The Atlantic is to begin offering readers an ad-free subscription option, as part of its plans to fight against the rise of ad blocking.
From today, readers will be offered a choice of either ‘whitelisting’ TheAtlantic.com or purchasing an ad-free subscription to the site.
While ad block software-users will not yet be prevented from accessing content, they will soon face a “hard wall” and be instructed to either deactivate their ad blocker or take out the subscription.
Visitors to The Atlantic’s site will be served a ‘Note to Readers’, reminding readers that it has relied upon advertising revenues since 1937, citing classing ads from brands like General Motors and American Express (see below).
The note states: “For our publication to continue to grow and be sustainable, we need to create an environment where readers can accept and feel good about ads alongside our work—or else support it in alternative ways.
“So today we’re rolling out a series of initiatives aimed at continuing to improve the security and user experience of our website, along with a new ad-free subscription option.”
Click here to read the full note
