The Rise of Ad Blocking
Ad blockers have become an increasing worry for online publishers with their ease of access and growth in popularity. The discussion around how best to deal with the challenges publishers face remains an ongoing one. But what is it about online advertising in the first place that makes people want to take active steps to avoid it?
Online advertising has gained a negative reputation over the last couple of years, an opinion that both people that do and don’t use ad blockers shared. Their main reasons being:
- Online ads are perceived as annoying
- Online ads are often irrelevant to the viewer
- Online ads can be intrusive
- Online ads can be creepy
Ad blocking has been around for a number of years, but up until recently it was a fairly niche activity that relatively few consumers engaged with. In 2015 this changed.
Apple announced they would allow ad blocking apps on phones and tablets; something that wasn’t possible previously. In early 2016 Samsung followed suit, releasing a new version of its Internet browser which supported ad blocking plug-ins. Being able to block ads across different devices has now become a major concern for publishers. Not viewing the advertising that comes with the content means effectively devaluing the content, which in turn decreases publisher revenue. In 2015 it was estimated that ad blocking caused a global loss of $21.8bn (PageFair 2015).
However, people are prepared to turn ad blockers off under the right circumstances. Find out how to avoid these pitfalls and ensure your advertising engages with your intended audience.
