Google lets publishers avoid paywalls with pay for microsurveys

The spreading net of Google is now offering publishers an alternative to a paywall with Google Consumer Surveys. According to a story on paidContent, it amounts to a reader getting free digital access (i.e. no paywall) in return for filling out a microsurvey. The publisher gets 5 cents for every survey response. In effect, the customer gets access to an article that would normally be blocked by a paywall in return for answering a question or two. 

Google already has a paid content product, Google One Pass, that lets publishers sell digital subscriptions, but Google Consumer Surveys is different because it doesn’t require customers to purchase subscriptions or log in.

Google says it has 20 publishers signed up so far. It can afford to pay publishers because advertisers and small business pays it a minimum of $100 for running a question, or about 10 cents per response.More detailed analysis can cost upwards of 50 cents per response. So Google gets it three ways -- ad exposures, paid by publishers and paid by advertisers and small business.

 “This is market research that is self-serve but has the same qualities of a high-end platform,” said Paul McDonald, product manager.