谷歌等網際網路巨頭向廣告遮蔽軟體投降
Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Taboola have quietly paid the German start-up behind Adblock Plus, the world’s most popular software for blocking online advertising, to stop blocking ads on their sites.
谷歌(Google)、亞馬遜(Amazon)、微軟(Microsoft)和Taboola悄悄地付給世界最熱門線上廣告遮蔽軟體Adblock Plus背後的德國初創企業一筆錢，換取後者不再螢幕它們網站上的廣告。The deals, which are confidential but whose existence has been confirmed by the Financial Times, demonstrate that some of the biggest participants in the $120bn online advertising market see the rise of ad-blocking as a material threat to their revenues.
這些交易是保密的，但它們的存在已得到英國《金融時報》的確認。這些交易證明，價值1200億美元的線上廣告市場的一些最大參與者，將廣告遮蔽軟體的崛起視為對其營收的切實威脅。
Adblock Plus has become one of the most popular free extensions on Chrome and Firefox browsers in recent years as internet users have attempted to eliminate the interruption of advertising. Eyeo, the German company that produces the software, says it has been downloaded more than 300m times worldwide and has more than 50m monthly active users.
隨著網際網路使用者想方設法消除廣告造成的干擾，Adblock Plus近年來已成為Chrome和火狐(Firefox)瀏覽器上最熱門的免費擴充套件。開發這款軟體的德國公司Eyeo表示，這款軟體在全球已被下載逾3億次，擁有5000萬月活躍使用者。
However, many publishers that fund their operations through advertising worry that ad-blocking will undermine their business model. German media groups including RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 are seeking damages from Eyeo, while French publishers are reportedly considering whether to follow suit.
然而，許多靠廣告收入提供自身運營資金的廣告發布商擔心，廣告遮蔽軟體會損害它們的商業模式。包括RTL和ProSiebenSat.1在內的德國媒體公司正在尋求讓Eyeo賠償損失，法國廣告發布商據報也在考慮是否效仿德國同行的做法。Google and Amazon declined to comment.
谷歌和亞馬遜拒絕置評。Microsoft, whose Bing search ads have been unblocked, said: “We are committed to working with partners who share our vision for relevant, impactful brand interaction and respect the integrity of consumer choice.”
微軟旗下必應(Bing)搜尋的廣告已被解除遮蔽。微軟表示：“我們致力於與這樣的夥伴合作：它對有意義、有影響力的品牌互動的願景要與我們一致，而且要充分尊重消費者的選擇。”Eyeo makes money by operating a “whitelist” of certain ads that are not blocked. It says sites can join this “acceptable ads” programme only if they meet criteria such as being “transparent with us about being an ad” and “do not disrupt or distort the page content we’re trying to read”.
Eyeo靠設定“白名單”、選擇性不遮蔽某些廣告來盈利。該公司表示，只有滿足一定標準的網站才能加入這個“可接受廣告”專案，比如“明確向我們表明廣告的身份”以及“不干擾或扭曲我們正試圖閱讀的頁面內容”。While the whitelisting process is free for small websites and blogs, Eyeo charges a fee to large companies “to make the initiative sustainable”. Eyeo declined to say how much it charged.
儘管白名單機制對小網站和部落格是免費的，但“為了專案的可持續”，Eyeo對大企業收取費用。Eyeo拒絕透露收費標準。One digital media company, which asked not to be named, said Eyeo had asked for a fee equivalent to 30 per cent of the additional ad revenues that it would make from being unblocked.
一家要求匿名的數字媒體公司表示，Eyeo索要的費用相當於廣告被解除遮蔽後所能帶來的額外廣告收入的30%。In judging which ads are “acceptable” and which are not, Eyeo must tread a fine line to avoid upsetting Adblock Plus users. Those who disagree with its decisions have the option of blocking all ads including those on the whitelist, or defecting to rival software such as Adblock Edge.
在判斷哪些廣告“可接受”、哪些不可接受的過程中，Eyeo必須小心把握平衡、以免觸怒Adblock Plus的使用者。那些對其決定有異議的使用者可選擇遮蔽所有廣告、包括那些在白名單上的，或選擇改用其競爭對手的軟體，比如Adblock Edge。After Eyeo proposed in an online forum in November that Taboola, an advertising network that sometimes serves racy content, should be whitelisted, one user wrote in response: “This is a joke, right? Taboola should be scorched from the internet for all time.”
去年11月，Eyeo在一個網路論壇上提議將一個有時輸出不雅內容的廣告網路Taboola加入白名單後，一名使用者回帖道：“這是在開玩笑，對吧？Taboola應該永遠被從網上根除。”Despite the protest, Eyeo whitelisted Taboola. That decision is likely to benefit websites such as MailOnline, Business Insider and NBC News, which use Taboola to serve ads in the form of “sponsored content” recommendations at the bottom of their news articles.
儘管使用者提出了抗議，但Eyeo還是把Taboola加入了白名單。這個決定很可能會造福MailOnline、Business Insider和NBC News等網站，它們使用Taboola輸出的廣告，以“贊助內容”推薦的形式放在其新聞文章底部。Taboola declined to comment.
Taboola拒絕置評。
