Mozilla Talks About $5 Ad-free Subscription Plan
Provided that the majority of digital advertising revenue is going to a small handful of companies leaving other publishers with scraps, Mozilla is trying to find a more sustainable ecosystem balance for publishers and users alike.
As part of these product explorations Mozilla will invite small groups of browser users at random to respond to surveys, provide feedback and potentially test proposed new features, products or services. In addition, some explorations may involve partners who are working on product or service offerings targeted at this problem space. One such partner that Mozilla is collaborating with is Scroll.
Scroll is a consumer service powering an ad-free web that rewards great user experience and funds essential journalism. The service enables web users to pay for an ad-free experience on their favorite sites, across their devices. By enabling more direct funding of publishers, Scroll’s model may offer a compelling alternative in the ecosystem. Mozilla will be collaborating with Scroll to better understand consumer attitudes and interest towards an ad-free experience on the web as part of an alternative funding model.
It’s not clear when the service will launch or if any of these details are final. Mozilla previously mentioned plans to launch subscriptions and a partnership with an ad-free news startup, so it seems like something close to this offering is on the way.
Another teaser website from Mozilla suggests the existing VPN service will be rebranded as “Firefox Private Network” and offered for either $5, $10, or $13 per month.
Mozilla largely makes money through a deal with Google to be the default search engine in Firefox. The company is trying to diversify where its money comes in, though, which makes plenty of sense given how direct of a competitor Google is in the browser market.