• by Sara Guaglione , June 16, 2017

Sourcepoint bills itself as a “content compensation platform,” giving publishers tools to make revenue lost to ad blockers.

AltPay is an addition to Dialogue, Sourcepoint's platform. Publishers will be able to use AltPay to give users the choice to pay to access the publisher’s content ad-free for a certain time period.

In other words, users that dislike advertising can pay to have an ad-free experience while supporting the publishers they enjoy, rather than using a dubious ad blocker.

An annual report from GroupM found the average ad block use/install rate was around 16% in early 2017.

Publishers have the freedom to customize AltPay to control pricing, time limitations on the ad-free experience, as well as offer their own, additional subscription plans.

“Our findings from consumer research and conversations with publishers showed that time-based packages were most favored and easily understood by both users and digital content owners,” Brian Kane, co-founder and COO of Sourcepoint, told Publishers Daily.

For example, a publisher could use AltPay to let readers on its site pay a certain amount to access its site without ads for a week, rather than forking out money for a stricter monthly or yearly subscription that may include advertising.

“The publishing sector is facing tough times ahead,” stated Ben Barokas, founder and CEO at Sourcepoint.

He said this solution intends to “empower publishers with the tools to align with their consumers on compensation choice without impacting the user experience.”

AltPay is currently in beta and “being tested by a number of premium publishers,” Kane said. Sourcepoint will announce results “in the coming months.”

The company will launch the feature in full in the third quarter.

In January, two-year-old Sourcepoint raised a $16 million Series B funding round.