Google to Help Publishers Make Money by Blocking Ads | Media - Advertising Age

tbd if/when Google Contributor will get beyond experimental status

"It may seem odd for a company like Google, which made 89% of its $16.5 billion in third-quarter revenue from advertising, to enable publishers to build their businesses without advertising. But it isn't, really.
For starters, Google's business of selling ads on other publishers' sites isn't as strong as it was a couple years ago. And the company has spent the past few years building up its non-advertising media business as a increasingly important source of revenue. Google's "other" revenue category includes sales of mobile apps, TV shows and movies and grew by 50% year-over-year in Q3 to $1.8 billion. And more recently Google's YouTube has expressed an interest in opening up an ad-free, subscription-based revenue stream. Last month YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki said the online video service was considering introducing a paid tier, and last week YouTube announced an ad-free, subscription-based music streaming service."

Google to Help Publishers Make Money by Blocking Ads | Media - Advertising Age