Online advertising is annoying but the Internet wouldn’t be nearly as great without it. Fast Company directs our attention to a study from U.K. video ad platform Ebuzzing that claims it would cost each of us around $232 extra per year to get all of the stuff on the web we now enjoy for free if we eliminated online ads.
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Of course, Ebuzzing’s study is self-serving since the company makes its money primarily from serving online ads. That said, all of the incredible information that we have for free at our fingertips thanks to the web really does seem like a bargain. The ability to never get lost wherever you are thanks to Google Maps, for instance, seems worth having some targeted ads pop up during search results.
Incidentally, Ebuzzing asked around 1,400 users if they’d be willing to pay upwards of $230 per year for an ad-free Internet. Unsurprisingly, fully 98% of them said, “No.”
