This NYC based startup's business plan is to replace paywalls (e.g. when you try to access a news site and they want you to subscribe) with a 'brand awareness test'.
Basically, they present something that seems like a captcha, but it's really an ad. To get past this ad-wall, you must type in a sequence of words that are highlighted in the ad.
Here's an example (made by me):
Rice-A-Roni is still popular no matter where you live: New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. Anywhere, anytime. It's a real treat.
Type the highlighted words: Rice-A-Roni San Francisco Treat
They are promising a high enough "ROI" (which I think they mean Return on Impression) that sites can remove paywalls.
You can read more on sfgate.
Programmers can probably crank out a browser extension to automatically get past these paywalls in a few minutes, so expect an arms race here.
