There are only 3 options (plus shutting it down) 1) Native advertising/sponsored articles/affiliate revenue or whatever applies. 2) subscription/paywall. 3) Proper advertising (that isn't blocked). You contact the advertiser, you put a sponsor message/banner/whatever on the site and you agree on a price. No targeting, no tracking.
I think a majority of the sites that are ad-funded today will have to find a new working business model or go under.
I hope there will be a renaissance in online advertising where decent advertising lets content be "free" in the sense that I'm not paying with my integrity and information.
Lots of people have tried micropayments lots of times and they've consistently failed. A single yet-another-Chromium-based-browser that doesn't even support extensions probably isn't going to fix it.
If people aren't willing to pay money for a service then they probably aren't willing to pay with integrity/information either - if they can avoid it. So failed paywall and micropayment experiments are probably a sign that the web site has an unsustainable business model.
A better system for micropayments would certainly help here though - most people who won't pay likely don't want to register an account at a third party service just to pay a dime to a web site.
I think this problem will be solved simply by the fact that traditional ad (network) revenue will dry up.
Good point - cat 2) should be any form of direct payment (sell products or services, sell access as subscription or micropayments, accept donations, whatever)
I think a majority of the sites that are ad-funded today will have to find a new working business model or go under.
I hope there will be a renaissance in online advertising where decent advertising lets content be "free" in the sense that I'm not paying with my integrity and information.