Google powers a massive number of ads around the internet, but just like any other ads on the web, they can get just a bit annoying. Back in 2015, Google introduced Contributor, a pay-per-month program which replaced AdSense ads on any website while still pushing revenue to the site owner. Today, however, Google is closing that program, at least temporarily.

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Google Contributor allows readers to pay a monthly fee to see fewer ads on the sites they visit. Ads are either outright removed or replaced with a thank you message. The service launched in 2014 and was opened up to those in US last year. Today, Contributor is getting a revamp that sets the starting monthly fee users can pay to $6.99.

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The confluence of several different events – the great shift to mobile computing where there’s little screen real-estate, a spurning of display ads, to name just two – is causing content creators and consumers alike to rethink how today’s media gets funded. Sites like Patreon and Kickstarter remove the middle-man from the funding process for projects which require lots of upfront investment and see slow development times by allowing anyone to contribute any amount of money they want to a project’s development.

Google last year threw its own hat into the crowdfunding space with the soft launch of Contributor, a way through which consumers can pay a monthly recurring donation to fund the sites they visit while seeing less ads. Now anyone in the United States can actually use it starting today. expand full story