Built on the Ethereum chain, the Basic Attention Token (BAT) is a token created for the digital advertising industry. It offers publishers and advertisers a way to reach the over 9 million daily users of the Brave browser, and users a way to get paid for their attention. The ads run through this platform allow advertisers to gain information on their ad’s effectiveness without compromising the safety and privacy of their users.
Over 400 advertisers have used the platform so far and some of them have published case studies on how the platform has increased their user engagement and revenue. Examples from the link include BlockFi earning 2x more revenue through BAT when compared to Google, eToro realized a 230% increase in new customer registrations, and Verizon achieved 23.8 million ad views through the platform.
The whitepaper reveals some interesting information about the metrics used by the platform. Basic attention metrics can, among other things, track whether the user clicked the ad and measure the seconds of attention the user has given the advertisement. Although it tracks many different parts of the ad experience, the data is kept solely on the device being used rather than being sent to the advertiser. This is one of the ways BAT protects the user’s privacy and maintains a sense of trust between the user and BAT.
They’re looking for ways to involve the user in the ecosystem as opposed to keeping them as passive participants like traditional ads do. BAT could be used to unlock premium content or purchase it to send to friends or unlock higher quality audio and video content. Another way BAT could be used is as an overhaul to a traditional upvote/downvote system on comments or videos. By using BAT the process would be more resistant to bot intervention and therefore more genuine. One-time purchases of digital goods are also something that could happen in the future, this includes integration into browser games and purchases involving those.
The paper also overviews some of the advantages of the platform versus traditional advertising. Not having ads on the website itself allows for less clutter, faster page loading across the board, and, for mobile users, in particular, less data usage as data for loading ads uses an estimated $23 a month in mobile data per user. And, of course, the user privacy and user’s being paid for their attention.
So what’s up next for BAT?
Looking at the 2.0 roadmap lays out some of the things to look forward to with the project:
Brave Wallet and DeFi Aggregator are in the works. The wallet will include mobile and desktop support and allow for options to purchase crypto with fiat payments through the wallet itself. I’m hoping once this will launch it will take over the Uphold integration with the Brave Rewards program.
The DeFi aggregator is looking to bring advantages to users of the platform by allowing discounts for those using BAT to pay for transaction fees and for users who hold BAT balances in their wallet. Multichain support is also planned for the DEX when it comes.
And another exciting thing they are working on is creating a decentralized web. Increasing BAT utility for search engines which is supported by Brave’s recent acquisition of the Tailcat search engine. An ability to use BAT for VPN or other privacy platforms is also in the works.
This is just a summary of the things you can find in their 2.0 roadmap. They have plenty of exciting things in the works that I think will be great for a safer, more private internet.
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