Google Offerwall explained: Easy way for publishers to test pay-as-you-go and ad-gated access
As publishers agonise over AI-led search killing their site traffic, Google appears to have held out an olive branch – or at least an olive twig – with its new Offerwall solution.
Offerwall, rolled out to users of Google Ad Manager on 26 June, lets publishers show a flexible “reward wall” before users can access their site’s content.
Publishers can customise the interstitial screen with their own logo and copy, and Google has made various monetisation and engagement options available at launch:
Reward ad: Users must watch an ad before they can access the content. This tactic, much like Youtube pre-roll ads or mobile in-game ads, forces users to watch a whole ad if they want to continue. Publishers get a 70% share of ad revenue, in line with usual Ad Manager splits.
Micropayments: Offerwall includes a partnership with Supertab, a US-based company that allows internet users to make a micropayment for content by putting it on their ‘tab’ (which follows them around the internet). Publishers can choose their own time-based passes – including for hourly, daily or weekly access.
While Google has not confirmed the exact revenue split via Offerwall – and whether it takes a cut – Supertab says 80% of micropayment revenue usually goes to its clients. It aggregates smaller ‘tabs’ before processing payments to avoid the high transaction fees on small individual payments of, say, 50p.
Surveys: Publishers can run their own short surveys, or paid-for third-party polls, via Offerwall, in order to glean user insight and improve ad targeting.
Other options: It’s also possible to show custom offers, such as newsletter sign-ups and trial or full subscriptions, via Offerwall. For smaller publishers with limited product development resources, this could provide an easier way to test and improve paywall messaging and mechanics.
Helpfully, Offerwall works alongside Google Optimize, which uses AI to track usage patterns and to decide when to trigger Offerwall to improve engagement and revenue. Publishers can override this if they wish, deciding to trigger it on their own terms, and on which parts of their site.
Google claims 9% revenue uplift in testing
While Offerwall has only just launched in Ad Manager, it’s been in beta testing with more than 1,000 publishers over the last year or so. Google claims an average uplift in site revenue of around 9% for those involved in the trial, with some sites boosted by up to 20%.
Further details, however, are currently thin on the ground. And at a time when AI-driven search is harming traffic to websites – along with revenue from display ads, affiliates and subscriptions – it’s debatable whether a 9% revenue uplift will be enough to compensate publishers for broader losses.
Micropayments, as a model, have failed to take off in previous iterations. Where publishers have dabbled with tools such as Blendle before (which relied on pre-paid credits), the results have not been good enough to give a viable supplement, or alternative, to subscription revenue.
That said, the Supertab integration on Offerwall looks slick and easy to use. Publishers can also pit it against an option to watch a rewarded ad, for example, meaning users can choose between making a small payment or allowing the publisher to make money from an ad partner instead. Either way, publishers get paid if readers want to dig deeper into the site.
It’s also possible to show micropayment options versus fully-fledged subscription offers which, if nothing else, is a useful test for websites wanting to test these waters. Supertab itself has claimed that presenting micropayments can help to funnel casual users towards better-value subscriptions.
Offerwall likely to annoy users
While individual elements of Offerwall have been available to publishers for some time via other means, having them bundled into one tool does give more scope for head-to-head testing of monetisation options. Metrics, onward journeys, and revenue estimates from different Offerwall tests can be compared directly via Google Ad Manager.
Historically, Google’s algorithm has penalised sites for tactics that block or interrupt access to content, such as aggressive pop-ups, on the grounds that they offer a poor user experience. The rollout of Offerwall signals a softening of this stance – provided publishers are prepared to use Google’s own tools.
Many users and UX teams are still likely to resent the introduction of a ‘reward wall’, whether it relies on ad views or micropayments. But given that Google Ad Manager is estimated to be used by four in five publishers, Offerwall pages seem likely to become a more common sight on the internet.
With traffic and revenue proving harder for publishers to find, readers may have to get used to them.
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