Google’s AI search features are reducing the traffic to publishers, and the company is now proposing a potential remedy.

On Thursday, the tech behemoth officially launched Offerwall, a new tool that enables publishers to generate revenue in addition to the more traffic-dependent options, such as advertising.

The Offerwall enables publishers to provide their readers with a diverse array of methods to access their content, such as micropayments, surveys, and advertisements.

Google has also stated that publishers have the ability to incorporate their own options into the Offerwall, such as subscribing to newsletters.

The new feature is now accessible for free in Google Ad Manager following previous experiments conducted with 1,000 publishers that lasted for more than a year.

Google also notes that it is utilizing AI to determine the optimal time to display the Offerwall to each site visitor in order to boost engagement and revenue.

Nevertheless, publishers have the option to establish their own thresholds prior to the Offerwall being displayed.

Several of the solutions that Offerwall proposes have been attempted by publishers in the past, spanning a variety of products and services.

For example, micropayments have consistently failed to gain traction due to the economics, which are not favorable, and the additional friction of paying per article, which has not been worth the payoff for either readers or publishers, given the implementation and maintenance costs.

Post, a social networking startup that is similar to Twitter and is sponsored by a16z, most recently attempted to implement micropayments for publishers. However, it ultimately failed due to a lack of traction.

In Google’s case, it is collaborating with a third party, Supertab, to enable site visitors to pay a nominal fee to access online content for a specified duration, such as 24 hours, a few days, or a week.

The option, which is currently in beta, also supports subscription sign-ups and integrates with Google Ad Manager.
Google also notes that publishers have the ability to configure Offerwall to include their own logo and introductory text, and then customize the choices it presents.

By default, one option is enabled, which requires visitors to view a brief advertisement in order to gain access to the publisher’s content.

This is the sole option that includes a revenue share, and it functions in the same manner as all Ad Manager solutions, Google notes.

Another alternative involves visitors selecting from a list of topics that they are interested in, which is subsequently stored and utilized for the personalization of advertisements.

Having a more comprehensive solution could enable publishers to experiment with various monetization options without the need to allocate a significant amount of time and resources to these tests.

Google’s announcement did not disclose any results of its initial tests with publishers or provide any successful case studies.

However, Google did provide TechCrunch with a study that demonstrated that India’s Sakal Media Group implemented Google Ad Manager’s Offerwall feature on esakal.com, resulting in a 20% increase in revenue and up to 2 million additional impressions within a three-month period.

Nevertheless, early reports from the testing period indicated that publishers experienced an average revenue increase of 9% after viewing rewarded ads on AdSense after 1 million messages.

Google Ad Manager customers also experienced a 5% to 15% increase in revenue when utilizing Offerwall.

Google also confirmed to TechCrunch via email that publishers with Offerwall experienced an average revenue increase of 9% during the year-long testing period.

According to Google, publishers have the ability to access metrics related to the Offerwall in Google Ads Manager reports.

These metrics include the estimated revenue generated by the Offerwall, the number of Offerwall messages displayed, the successful engagement of the Offerwall, and the number of post-Offerwall page views.