Leading Comedy Sites Band Together, Using Coil to Stream Micropayments from Readers to Publishers

SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Coil, the company dedicated to building a better business model for the web, today announced that 20 leading comedy and satire sites, including Reductress, Duffel Blog, The Hard Times, and Waterford Whispers News, are now using Coil to stream micropayments from readers to publishers based on time spent reading their content.

By using open Web Monetization technology, Coil is providing an alternative and additive way for publishers to monetize and offer premium experiences, like ad-free browsing and exclusive content. For readers and fans, Coil is providing a single way to access premium content experiences and support their favorite publishers and writers across sites.

"Now, more than ever, publishers are seeking new revenue streams," said Stefan Thomas, Founder and CEO of Coil. "Web Monetization is an open technology that enables streaming micropayments to flow to publishers for every second a user spends on a story. It's additive, leaving other revenue streams undisturbed, and gives publishers the freedom to decide what exclusive content, ad-free experiences, or other premium experiences they want to offer. At Coil, we're proud to have made this technology accessible to everyone by making it affordable, privacy-preserving, and easy-to-use."

"Ads are annoying. We hate them at Reductress as much as you do. So we're so happy to offer our readers an ad-free experience and an easy way to support us and other independent publishers for just a few bucks a month," said Sarah Pappalardo, Co-Founder and Editor of Reductress. "Starting today we'll have exclusive content for Coil members, and we're working toward a beautiful future where nobody has to see another belly fat ad ever again."

Any publisher can activate monetization by simply adding the Web Monetization meta tag to their site or installing the Coil Web Monetization WordPress plugin. Once enabled, Coil automatically streams micropayments to the publisher's digital wallet based on the amount of time Coil Members spend reading. The meta tag and Coil's open source WordPress plugin are intentionally designed to be interoperable with other Web Monetization service providers, providing publishers with more freedom of choice now and in the future.

Coil and Web Monetization is free to publishers. Coil charges $5 per month for people who want to support publishers and access a premium experience, including the Comedy Bundle.

Starting today, the Comedy Bundle using Coil and Web Monetization includes the following sites with more soon to follow: Reductress, The Hard Times, Hard Drive, Jumpkick, Robot Butt, The Nordly, Fancy Boys Club, Spooky Mag, The Whale-Lines, The Olognion, Pittsburgh Unfiltered, Duffel Blog, Weekly Humorist, Ladyspike Media, What The Fuss, and The Boston Accent.

For more information about Coil, please visit coil.com and follow on Twitter (@Coil).

About Coil
Coil was founded in 2018 to build a better business model for the web. Coil makes it easy for publishers and creators to monetize their content across the internet, and provides an alternative to advertising and site-by-site subscription models. As Coil Members enjoy content, Coil uses a proposed open web standard called Web Monetization to stream micropayments to creators in real time. Coil is designed to support a variety of publishers, creators and content platforms. In 2019, Coil, in collaboration with Mozilla and Creative Commons, launched the $100 million Grant for the Web to boost open, fair and inclusive standards and innovation in Web Monetization. Coil also invested $20 million in Imgur, the community-powered entertainment platform reaching 300 million people each month.

SOURCE Coil

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