Is Blockchain The Next Big Disruption In Advertising?

Advances in technology always drive innovation and change in the world around us. Entire industries get disrupted by new tech, and advertising is no exception.

A trend that has been picking up lately is for individual content communities to share ad revenue with contributors through partnership programs. There are a few variations that are used by communities such as Quora, Medium, etc. Minds is a platform that is rewarding contributors with blockchain based cryptocurrencies depending on how much attention their content draws relative to other contributors. One browser is following suit and has potential to shake up not only the content contributor's world, but advertiser's as well.

The Brave New World

Rather than just reward content contributors based on how much awareness they receive, Brave is paying out cryptocurrency to users as they see ads. Brave and likely other's who follow a similar path, are trying to provide a better experience for both the advertiser and user through blockchain technology.

The privacy focused web browser automatically blocks cookies and ads but allows users to opt in to viewing ads in return for micropayments of the cryptocurrency BAT (Basic Attention Token). Users are then able to withdraw the cryptocurrency or give back to content creators through "tips."

Win-Win for Everyone

Users experience less unwanted ads and a promise of increased speed, but advertisers aren't left out to dry in this deal. Because users opt in to viewing ads, they tend to be more engaged. The fact that they opt in also means they are a real active user and not a bot.

There was an estimated $7.2 billion in digital ad fraud in 2016 and some reports say that it is growing as much as 50% year over year. Brave hopes to eliminate this click fraud and help advertiser's stop wasting money.

Privacy First

Brave stores data on the user's device, so their privacy is not breached. Ads are then matched to users at the device level. The users then earn BAT that they can tip to content creators and the content creators can in turn use that BAT to pay for ads.

The incorporation of blockchain technology into advertising will likely cause more advancements in the coming years.