Basic Attention Token (BAT) is an Ethereum-based, decentralised blockchain platform which focuses on improving the digital advertising world. This page will explain the ways in which BAT uses its own browser, called Brave, to make advertising easier for publishers, advertisers and users.
Problems with digital advertising
BAT was launched because its developers realised the current digital advertising methods are non-ideal for users, for publishers and for advertisers. Users waste a lot of mobile data (and thus money) on ad trackers, and they receive a great number of malvertisements or simply irrelevant ads. Content publishers become victim both of major websites’ (like Facebook) and ad blockers monopoly. And lastly, the advertisers cannot target ads properly (downsizing the revenue they should receive from ads) and often become the victim of fake websites or bots.
BAT thus focuses on this triangle of transactions between users, content publishers and advertisers, attempting to make digital advertising easier and more rewarding for each of these three stakeholders.
How it works
BAT relies on the use of the Brave browser, which is available via the Apple iOS and the Google Play store. This is a fast, open-source and secure browser, which blocks malvertisements and trackers, but also links to a ledger system that captures user attention in order to reward publishers – i. e. the owners of the websites that feature ads. Brave assesses whether users interact with particular ads, based on the browsing time and on the pixels in view, rewarding both the users for looking at ads and the publishers for the number of users that look at a particular ad using BAT.
BAT is thus a direct way to quantitatively measure users’ attention, but it can also be used directly to fund advertising expenses within the BAT platform. (While it is not officially a currency and was not intended as such by its developers, it can now also be traded for a number of currencies through cryptocurrency exchanges.)
Advantages compared to traditional digital advertising
Like all cryptocurrencies, BAT uses a decentralised public ledger or blockchain in order to log its transactions; this in itself has a number of specific advantages compared to traditional digital marketing. Firstly, it means that the system is fully automated and cuts out middlemen, which means publishers will receive more revenue, since fewer fees are deducted.
At the same time, because the system is fully automated, opportunities for fraud or malvertisements are also reduced; advertisements processed through BAT will be real advertisements. Additionally, users’ safety and security will also be guaranteed through use of an anonymity algorithm.
Moreover, BAT uses local machine learning algorithms to anonymously match ads with customer interests. In this way, the customer gets to see ads he is interested in, without having his personal information released to advertisers.