Behind Ars Technica’s Winning User Experience

User experience lessons from the Ad Blocker War are shaping both how publishers monetize their sites and the conversations they have with their readers about this. Successful strategies to address ad blocking are emerging and are typically varied. One of the key lessons is that focusing on the user experience challenges that drive ad blocking in the first place, is an effective strategy for improving ad revenues. I’ll explain how in this article, using a case study of a major US tech publication to illustrate the point.

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Instant Articles and AMP: Transforming Mobile UX

UX, the user experience, once an afterthought for many companies, is now an essential ingredient for success. In fact, nearly 85% of companies are expected to increase their focus on UX in 2016. It is no wonder then, that big players like Facebook, with Instant Articles, and Google, with AMP, have had a recent obsession with creating a flawless experience for their users.

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Why Engagement, Not Scale, Is Critical For Publishers

Engagement, not scale, is becoming the key differentiator between big publishers. According to comScore’s recent “Cross-Platform Future in Focus” report, digital media publishers are growing. About 206 publishers have audiences in excess of 20 million users. Included in those publishers are 21 publishers with audiences approaching 200 million users.

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Meeting The Viewability Threat to Publishers’ Revenue

Viewability is a relatively new term in the online advertising lexicon and it has rapidly becoming a significant factor that determines whether publishers, already under significant pressure to monetize their digital properties, will be able to remain afloat and viable or whether they will lose even more revenue and shut down.

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