Did you ever come across a flood of ads when you were browsing a news or an entertainment website? Did you feel that most of these ads make no sense to you? Do these spaces feel cluttered with an array of distracting ads? As it turns out, this is the case with the most users on the web.
The Problem With Today’s Advertising
Throughout the history of modern media, the primary function of advertising was to capture attention, raise interest, and drive meaningful action. At the turn of the century, the internet became a consumer product, and the concept of digital advertising was invented. The idea of digital advertising was to find the right audience with reduced information latency. Two decades later we find that the information industry is heavily monopolised, plagued with middlemen, and lacks privacy. Middlemen between the ad and the user are eating larger pies of the ad budgets. The advertising ecosystem has become complex by the day with more than 70 trackers having eyeballs on the average internet user. Close to 91% of adult users claim that they have lost control over how their information is collected.
The Ad marketplace has three key players- Advertisers (brands which want to showcase their content), Publishers (Platforms like Google, YouTube and Facebook where ads are displayed), and the end-user. The second layer of stakeholders include buy-side sellers, data management services, and analytics softwares. A piece of content conceptualised by the advertiser bounces across numerous intermediaries costing a lot to the advertiser. On the flip side, user data is accessed by numerous players which increases concerns about data privacy. Ads also consume a tremendous amount of mobile battery when calculated for all users using smartphones.
While Brands fight to seek consumer attention in a highly cluttered space, Information is being overloaded and Attention spans are reducing by the day. Meaningful advertising has never been more difficult with climbing marketing budgets, reduced revenues for Advertisers and increased usage of Ad blockers.
At the core of an advertising exercise, we find that all players in this marketplace are fighting for one thing – User Attention.
BAT’s Place in The Advertising Landscape
User attention is undoubtedly the most valuable asset in the Ad landscape. With an abundance of Information, user attention will only get more expensive moving forward. There is an imminent need to democratise the ad landscape and the BAT token seamlessly solves this problem by giving value to user attention.
The BAT token is powered by the Brave Browser which blocks ads and anonymously measures user attention through an Ethereum-based blockchain ledger system. The ledger system rewards users and publishers equitably. Advertisers budget accordingly for users to watch ads. Users are rewarded for watching the ads through the BAT token and the rest goes to the Publisher. A scoring algorithm measures the user’s attention and rewards the user with the BAT token.
How Does BAT Add Value to The User?
- Access to any ecosystem where ads are fewer but more relevant.
- It provides a monetary incentive for users to watch advertisements.
- Highly relevant advertising powered by the Ethereum blockchain makes the ad content more meaningful to the users.
- A plethora of premium content can be accessed by using BAT as currency.
- Purchase of Digital goods in the Brave Ecosystem – Photos, Videos etc.
- One-time purchases for pieces of content. E.g.: Paying only to read an article instead of subscribing for an entire service of a magazine.
- Developers can use the BAT infrastructure to build programs.
- A valuable asset with transformative applications.
BAT transforms User attention into a valuable asset which is an amazing step to making the Ad landscape democratic. For possibly the first time in Internet history, users are part of a level playing field alongside advertisers and publishers.
Final Verdict
BAT is forging its way by creating its own unique identity and innovative use cases. A decentralised solution is needed to change the current ecosystem riddled with privacy invasion and malware. These transformative applications make BAT a sensible investment with great prospects of long-term value. The token presents breakthrough innovations by decentralising and democratising advertising.
How to buy a BAT token? You can now buy a BAT token on ZebPay.