Blog Post
Block Shock - Advertising Blockers and Display Ads
- By Joe Wozny
- •
- 21 Sep, 2016
As Featured In
People today care about data security and privacy more than ever before, and new behaviours have arisen that affect all advertisers. With online advertising, readers' tastes and habits can be tracked, and ads tailored accordingly. But consumers are increasingly using software that blocks advertising on the websites they visit. If current trends continue, half the ads aimed at consumers are forecast to never reach their screens (Economist 2015). This puts at risk online publishing's dominant business model, in which consumers get content and services free in return for granting advertisers access to their eyeballs.
GlobalWebIndex (GWI) surveyed online adults to see how prevalent these behaviours are. Survey results indicated that many have been acquiring the help of ad blocking methods to protect their online footprints. According to GWI, 46% of online adults are using a private browsing window, which prevents cookies from saving any online activity and another 40% are deleting cookies off their computers manually.
Ad blocking software, an additional blocking method, allows consumers to never see web ads created by independent ad serving networks. Globally, 27% of online adults say they routinely use ad blockers on their computers, and Europe ranks the highest in ad blocking activity at 29%. By some estimates, more than 200m people worldwide are now regular users of ad-blocking programs (PageFair, Adobe 2015).
It's not a small wonder that web publishers have started to take action. Some are switching to subtler means of advertising, such as promotional articles written in a similar style to a site's editorial content, referred to as Native Advertising. Others are trying to educate their audience. Ad-blocking visitors to the website of the Guardian, a British daily, for example, are greeted with the message: "We notice that you've got an ad-blocker switched on. Perhaps you'd like to support the Guardian another way?" A few publishers are taking a more robust approach. Some sites, such as Hulu, an online video service, block users who try to block its ads. Also, some internet firms, including Google, are said to have cut a deal with Eyeo (ad blocking software) to have their ads included on the firm's "whitelist" (Google declined to comment on this) (The Economist, 2015).
Advertising pundits are already starting to weigh in in the growing ad blocking trend. Some say that ad blocking makes native advertising far more advantageous than non-native formats. Native ads are placed within a user's newsfeed(s) (such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn). Ads within mobile apps are still displayed to users who are using web ad blocking software in their browser.
Adobe's recent study found that the global Facebook Click Through Rate (CTR) continues to grow and has created a 75 point gap in growth rate of the CTRs on Display ads, over Google. Some of Facebook's increase is due to new, more engaging, Right Hand Side Ads, but the overall trend aligns with the advantages of Facebook advertising, with Facebook ads in the users newsfeed as effectively 100% viewable. The same cannot be said for Google display ads, where Google itself has reported that only 44% of Google display ads are viewable (Salesforce 2015).
As a large portion of desktop based web traffic migrates to mobile, one can't help but wonder it's impact on advertising. Apple's recent iOS 9 supports content blockers, and Apple's Mobile Safari dominates usage statistics on mobile - which could mean that veto power over ads, Googles' revenue platform, is increasingly under the control of a major rival, Apple. More to watch on that front!
Bottom Line: Online Advertising is never boring. Ad Blocking could create a serious impediment to the reach and cost effectiveness of all advertisers campaigns. Ask your advertising company about how ad blocking affects your current campaigns. Keep abreast of new solutions that work within the contrasting demands of consumers and advertisers
Joe Wozny, author of The Digital Dollar: Sustainable Strategies for Online Success, is a digital and online media thought leader, strategist, author, blogger and international presenter on strategies to improve the reach and success of Internet, social and digital media initiatives. Through Concentric, he helps leaders leverage their businesses using smart, well planned digital strategies. For more information on Joe as an author, please visit joewozny.com, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter
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