Okay, but I fail to see how this eventuality results in the end of ads. Owners of websites, at least the popular ones, won't stop running ads just because they don't strictly need to. We've seen this play out repeatedly with companies pushing ads to paying subscribers who are not paying a small amount to access their services.
The other unfortunate outcome I immediately foresee is that by adding an element of risk to visiting a new site (of wasting money on something useless, even a tiny amount), people will be even more inclined to stay within walled gardens they already know rather than explore the internet. This takes a problem we already have and makes it way worse.
> Okay, but I fail to see how this eventuality results in the end of ads.
I'd bet it goes down to 0 for 99%+ websites. A few big websites might keep it, but anything that inhibits the site from generating (meaningful) data, like users posting, sharing product feedback, describing fun things to do, showing pictures of an area, etc. will be reduced. What I am betting on is most sites opting for monetizing as data generation, rather than ad serving.
It seems like it will only accelerate the cultural trend of brands wanting to go through influencers since a lot of people tune out the algorithm because it feels impersonal to them.
The more unexpected implication is companies leveraging their content as a product to sell to non-human consumers. This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Oddly enough, this could be a positive incentive. People worry about "dead internet theory" where places like Reddit are just wastelands of bot spam. If a site like Reddit needs to keep comment quality up to maintain their revenue they might be forced to manage the bot situation better.
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[ 0.25 ms ] story [ 2.2 ms ] threadThe other unfortunate outcome I immediately foresee is that by adding an element of risk to visiting a new site (of wasting money on something useless, even a tiny amount), people will be even more inclined to stay within walled gardens they already know rather than explore the internet. This takes a problem we already have and makes it way worse.
I'd bet it goes down to 0 for 99%+ websites. A few big websites might keep it, but anything that inhibits the site from generating (meaningful) data, like users posting, sharing product feedback, describing fun things to do, showing pictures of an area, etc. will be reduced. What I am betting on is most sites opting for monetizing as data generation, rather than ad serving.
The more unexpected implication is companies leveraging their content as a product to sell to non-human consumers. This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Oddly enough, this could be a positive incentive. People worry about "dead internet theory" where places like Reddit are just wastelands of bot spam. If a site like Reddit needs to keep comment quality up to maintain their revenue they might be forced to manage the bot situation better.