For better or worse, internet browsers track our every virtual move, to help provide a
more personalised experience…
But to whose benefit?
Brave web browser is changing all that and giving internet surfers total control over
their online experience
But how does Brave make money?
Why has it become so controversial?
And can Brave really offer a more private web browsing experience, that’s faster and
can even make you money?
Here’s how it happened.
Brave was the brainchild of the creator of JavaScript and former CEO of the Mozilla Foundation,
Brendan Eich.
In 2014, he recruited former Mozilla colleague Brian Bondy as co-founder to help with his
idea for a new type of internet browser, which would be based on a few principles:
The first was that users shouldn’t be tracked without giving consent,
The second was to remove the trackers and ads that slow down page loading times,
Thirdly, he wanted publishers to be paid in cryptocurrency to account for the lost revenue
due to blocked ads, And finally, he believed users should receive
their own cut from the privacy preserving ads, in return for their attention.
By the end of 2015, they had already gone through more than 600 test versions of the
desktop browser and over 100 versions of their iOS browser.
With a team of only a limited size, they didn’t have the resources to also produce something
suitable for Android, and so acquired mobile browser LinkBubble, from Australian Chris
Lacy,
Brave launched its beta desktop browser in January of 2016, with the iOS version launching
a month later
This early release was very much considered a prototype, with minimal extension support
and as of yet no functionality to display Brave’s own ads.
However in August 2016, the company was still successful in raising $4.5 million in seed
funding, from sources including Foundation Capital and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
Brave’s mission really started to gain traction in 2017, around the time of their ICO, or
Initial Coin Offering
In order to achieve its goal of crediting both users and publishers, Brave needed its
own currency that could be exchanged and accepted by everyone.
The Basic Attention Token, or BAT, was Brave’s new coin that was transferred in return for
web surfers’ online attention, and could be cashed in for cryptocurrencies like BitCoin.
Brave made 1 billion BAT available in May 2017, which completely sold out in under 30
seconds for a total of $35 million.
So where does Brave make money in all this?
Whenever you view a web page in Brave, your browser will strip the site of its ads, replacing
them with ones from its own catalogue.
This catalogue is updated every hour, and shows a user ads based on their searches,
using data that never leaves their device
In phase one of Brave’s revenue-sharing program, which launched in January 2019, users
were reimbursed for their attention with 70% of the revenue received from advertisers,
with Brave keeping the remaining 30%
Following the conclusion of the 8 week trial, Phase 2 was unveiled in March 2019, and was
referred to as Publisher-Integrated Ads.
This next stage gave website publishers their own slice of the pie.
Websites that register with Brave and sign up for an Uphold account so they can store
their BAT, will then receive 70% of advertising revenue generated while users are on their
site.
Users will receive 15% and Brave the final 15%.
Brave upholds that ad matching takes place only within a user’s device, so their data
is kept entirely safe.
And the Brave Rewards program operates on an opt-in basis, so users can continue to
surf the web free of charge without seeing any ads at all, but also without the privilege
of earning any BAT.
Individual users will build up their BAT wallet at a very slow rate, usually less than $5
equivalent per month, and so may choose to tip the websites they visit instead of waiting
to make a withdrawal.
This can be done automatically by Brave, who take 5% commission on all tips and then redistribute
the remaining BAT based on the time a user spends on each respective site.
The full launch of Brave 1.0 took place in November 2019.
So what’s been the reaction to the cutting edge browser?
The subject of online ads has become a fiercely contested topic,
So much so that several sites run anti-ad blocking software to disable access while
ad blockers are switched on,
To which consumers have retaliated by downloading anti-ad blocking detecting software themselves,
with all parties desperate to have the final say.
Brave prides itself on its transparency and claims some ad blockers are willingly allowing
some advertisers through the net, in return for a direct fee
Its founders say their offering gives users full control of the ads they’re seeing,
without any underhand tactics.
And so news outlets were quick to point fingers in 2020, when Brave had to apologise for its
browser redirecting some URL’s to affiliate links, which provided Brave with a commission
on any sales made.
Eich apologised for the error on Twitter and promised they were fixing the glitch as soon
as possible,
Some independent testers have found Brave’s speed claims that it’s over twice as fast
as Google Chrome, to be genuine, and users have reaped the benefits of the shared revenue
scheme.
But does it seem hypocritical for an ad blocker to make money from advertising?
The answer is yes, but Eich insists that Brave’s ads only come in a few standard sizes and
that without user IDs and reusable cookies, they can still offer a much faster experience.
Nonetheless, there’s been a pushback against the business model, as critics suggest website
owners should be in full control of what ads visitors are shown.
But the company has continued to push on with its heavy expansion
Brave recently ditched their referral program, in which partners would receive approximately
$5 worth of BAT for every active user they signed up.
What began with a $1 million budget eventually stretched to $12 million, as the program was
hugely successful and contributed to Brave’s active monthly user base doubling from 10
million people in 2019 to 20 million in 2020.
The browser now boasts its own newsreader, Brave Today, and partnered with DuckDuckGo
in 2017 as an optional default search engine when opening private tabs.
A research report from Trinity College Dublin in 2020 described Brave as the outright most
private browser available, ahead of Chrome, Safari and Firefox in second place, and the
likes of Yandex and Microsoft Edge back in third.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried Brave and how you found it, or if you think
a browser that pays you money sounds too good to be true.
And that’s how it happened.
Thanks for watching