Mozilla is partnering with
Scroll "to better understand consumer attitudes and interest towards an ad-free experience on the web as part of an alternative funding model.”
Scroll is a service that lets users pay to
access sites ad-free across various devices. Investors include Gannett, News Corp and The New York Times, among others, with partners like The Atlantic, Slate, Fusion Media Groupand Business Insider.
Mozilla owns the Firefox web browser.
"By enabling more direct funding of publishers, Scroll’s model may offer a compelling alternative in the
ecosystem," Peter Dolanjski, product lead at Mozilla,
wrote in a post on the site's blog.
"The
online advertising ecosystem is broken. The majority of digital advertising revenue is going to a small handful of companies, leaving other publishers with scraps," he wrote. "Users are on the
receiving end of terrible experiences and pervasive tracking designed to get them to click on ads or share even more personal data."
Last year, many publishers built pay
walls to lessen reliance on a digital ad-supported business model and improve direct relationships with readers.
For example, Condé Nast plans to put all of its titles behind a pay wall.
Dolanjski said it is time to
put "publishers and users at the center of the online value exchange." On the user side, Mozilla is holding back on "pervasive tracking" in its web browser to protect users' privacy.
For
publishers, "we believe these same measures will help shift long-term ecosystem incentives currently stripping value from publishers and fueling rampant ad fraud." Dolanjski wrote.
In
2019, Mozilla will continue to experiment with new product features and offerings. Part of that initiative means inviting small groups of browser users to take part in surveys and test new
features, products or services.