solitaire has been an ad-free site for years, but the company announced a major change today, allowing users to pay for the site’s ad-supported content, including videos and live streams.
The new payment option also means that ad-blocking services like Adblock Plus, Adblock, and FlashBlock are now available as ad-friendly versions of the site.
Ad-free solitaire’s ad model is meant to be more of a “mobile first” approach, so users will need to install a third-party browser plugin if they want to watch the ad-browsing ads, but it’s not clear how much of a barrier this will be for those who already use Adblock.
ad-blockers have become a huge deal for the company, as they’ve become an essential part of the company’s ad strategy, and they’ve also helped keep solitaire free of ads for several years.
In 2016, the company introduced ad-hoc video streaming, which allowed users to watch videos on the site without ever paying for the ad, and ad-purchasing options.
The company also announced that ad blockers would be removed from the site in 2018.
While Solitaire’s subscription model is great for the platform, the change could cause issues for those users who want to pay full price for ad-sponsored content, as well as those who use ad blockers to prevent the ads.
It’s worth noting that this change comes as Adblock is undergoing a massive purge of its ad-serving options.
This is something that many ad-based platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and even Spotify have had to do in order to keep their platforms ad-light, and it’s something Solaire’s new payment model may not be able to avoid.
