Welcome to our About Adblock series. For publishers, one of the most difficult tasks is monetizing their audience. In today’s internet landscape a large portion of that audience is using Adblock, completely disrupting your revenue. We hope this series gives you the information required to understand what you’re up against while providing you with actionable solutions. Click below for more:
Adblock Myths and the Truths They’re Covering Up
For the uninitiated, Adblock is a tool that, when activated, blocks any ads from showing on a user’s site online.
Adblock has been around for more than 15 years. In that time it has grown from a small extension which only early adopters and techies use, to something that covers more than one third of all online traffic.
The astronomical growth Adblock has enjoyed is creating an increasingly hostile environment for publishers to build sustainable businesses.
In countries like the US, Adblock adoption has grown rapidly in the last few years. Adblock adoption almost doubled going from 15 percent of internet users in 2014, to almost 30 percent in 2020. This number rises to 45 percent among 15-25 year olds, signifying a continuing trend of increased adoption.
Furthermore, Adblock mobile usage has increased greatly, far outpacing its desktop counterpart. According to a 2020 report, there are almost 500 million mobile based adblock users, compared to the 250 million desktop users.
More Ways than Ever to Block Ads
Today, Adblock is more than just a tool. It’s come to be seen by many as a basic right and requirement to browse the web.
How did we get here? Mainly by online advertisers overplaying their hand. Advertising has become so intrusive, with data collection becoming so invasive that users have educated themselves on data privacy and online ad distribution.
This has led to an explosion in the variety of Adblock tools. Beyond the traditional Adblock extensions like Adblock and Adblock Plus, browsers have been packaging built-in Adblock features giving users control over the Ads they see. Some desktop browsers are even promoting themselves as alternatives to the heavyweights like Google Chrome, promising an internet experience completely free of advertising. VPN’s, most famously NordVPN, have even started bundling Adblock tools with their existing services, proving to have some of the most aggressive solutions.
Transition to “Acceptable Ads”
Over the last few years, the largest Adblock provider which runs extensions Adblock and Adblock Plus has transitioned to an “Acceptable Ads” model. While it claims to serve opt-in high quality advertising which doesn’t track the user, it does the opposite. The “Acceptable Ads” feature is enabled by Adblock by default, allowing the highest bidder to bypass its blocks, usually chumboxes from Taboola and Outbrain which show low quality advertising and consistently track user data.
On the publisher side things are even worse. Adblock extorts publishers, making them pay for the ability to show these acceptable ads. Publishers then need to share the revenue won with Adblock as well as the ad networks. This would leave publishers with a small percentage of total revenue gained.
You can read more about this highly unethical practice here.
Welcome to our About Adblock series. For publishers, one of the most difficult tasks is monetizing their audience. In today’s internet landscape a large portion of that audience is using Adblock, completely disrupting your revenue. We hope this series gives you the information required to understand what you’re up against while providing you with actionable solutions. Click below for more:
Who Uses Adblock and Why
Adblock Myths and the Truths They’re Covering Up
