The DayPass, offered by Slashdot’s parent Open Source Technology Group, will give users the chance to see new stories and content first.
They’ve got money to spend and will opt-in to see your advertisement, Slashdot owner OSTG says on its web site. DMNews.com points to the story on how those desirable Slashdot readers can be reached with a new advertising device called the DayPass.
By logging in and agreeing to view an interstitial ad, DayPass users gain access to stories before other readers, 30 minutes ahead of them. OSTG cites Slashdot’s 85,000 registered readers as “the most valuable early-adopter IT audience on the Web today.” DayPass compels a 15-second viewing of the interstitial; further, the DayPass sponsor gets “exclusive ownership of all ad positions on DayPass pages.”
Salon has had a day pass concept in place for some time. They also offer subscriptions, like Slashdot does. Salon’s subscriptions can be purchased on an ad-free basis, or at a reduced rate with ads still displayed.
Nielsen//NetRatings cites Slashdot as being the number one tech news destination online in its @plan: Spring 2005 report, according to OSTG. Throughout its network, OSTG claims to get 18 million monthly visitors and more than 288 million page views.
Slashdot has an existing for-pay subscription feature in place, one that permits subscribers to turn off a certain number of ads per day. Subscribers can also view stories in advance of their posting to the public site. The fate of this program, which began in March 2002, could be in doubt if OSTG wants to more actively monetize DayPass or other future ad models.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
