Contributors:
Brian Grande
May 14, 2019
Do you ever wish you were paid for all the time you spend on the Internet? We do. And Brave has a solution for how we can all get paid for the time we spend searching, browsing, and lurking the World Wide Web.
The relationship between viewer and ads has always been transactional, but only to the benefit of advertisers and publishers. Users have been forced to view ads in order to reach their desired content. But over time we’ve adapted; now the majority of ads have become nothing more than white noise, making them ineffective. Brave changes the way we consume content by altering the dynamics between ad and user, and creating an engaging and mutually beneficial relationship for everyone — advertisers, publishers, and viewers.
Brave is an open source platform created by Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of the Mozilla Project. We’ll pause while you download, now that you know this is the real deal…
Once downloaded, Brave immediately starts saving and earning for you. The browser gives you control to view or block ads. If you choose to block an ad, you no longer have to download or see unwanted content, which decreases the download time for the content you actually want, saving data usage and your battery life. Brave also blocks tracking, so your identity and user habits are protected.
On Brave, the decision to view ads is left up to you. But for every ad viewed you are rewarded with Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) that can be used to purchase physical or digital goods, be paid out to content creators and publishers, or donated to a non-profit organization of your choice. Brave recently announced a partnership with TAP, giving you even more buying power. Tokens can be redeemed across the 250,000 brands within the TAP Network. This means the time you spend on the Internet can be converted to a gift card to cover your next $6 Starbucks Frappuccino... or the one of twenty items waiting in your Amazon cart... or this weekend’s late night Uber ride. The browser puts value on user attention, monetizing the time you spend viewing ads, while increasing the impact of ads.
Imagine an audience that is motivated and requesting to watch an ad. The more ads the user engages with, the more tokens they earn, so the user actual looks forward to seeing ads. Users search “how do I earn more BAT,” “when do I receive my BAT,” “where are my ads,” and the audience changes from passive to active as users actually look forward to seeing ads.
So what does this mean for digital marketing? It’s really too soon to tell the effect Brave could have on digital marketing. But here’s what we do know:
