As the digital advertising industry continues to deal with adblocking and its implications, there are a vast number of varying opinions out there. Below is a selection of some the better articles on Adblocking that IAB Australia staff have come across recently to keep you up to speed on the issue.
“Will Ad Blocking Drive the Native Ad Shift?”
By Chris Edwards, IAB Big Tent Blog
Covers: Native as a response to adblocking; adblocking use; consumer perspective
“BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Guardian have all likewise recognized the looming demise of standard display and intrusive ad experiences and invested significant amounts of time, money and reputation into developing engaging native formats and sponsored content solutions that keep all parties happy.”
https://www.iabaustralia.com.au/big-tent-blog/entry/will-ad-blocking-drive-the-native-ad-shift
“Wired thinks https can help fight vs ad blocking”
By Lucia Moses, Digiday (May 26)
Covers: https protocol against adblocking; ad tech
“With the rise of ad blocking, there’s growing conversation around encrypting, of which https is a form. Encryption is one of the four prongs of the IAB Tech Lab’s L.E.A.N. initiative to improve the user experience on sites so people don’t install ad blockers.”
https://digiday.com/publishers/latest-attack-ad-blocking-wired-addresses-security-concerns/
“Want to Solve Ad Blocking? Solve Malware”
By Gil Resh, Ad Exchanger (May 25)
Covers: Adblocking software; link between malware and adblocking; ad fraud
“The IAB estimates the industry loses $1.1 billion to malware every year, but most of that – $781 million – comes from revenue lost to users installing ad blockers to prevent the malware. In other words, the fear of malware is costlier than the malware itself.”
http://adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/want-solve-ad-blocking-solve-malware/
“Incisive Media sees 40 percent drop in ad blocking after banning access”
By Jessica Davies, Digiday (May 23)
Covers: Anti-adblocking trail results; Incisive Media
“Publishers often wring their hands about how tough to get with ad blocking. U.K. business publisher Incisive Media decided late last year to block access to its tech publications The Inquirer and V3, both of which had ad-block use rates of over 20 percent. The result: Within 48 hours, the number of page impressions ad-blocked dropped by 40 percent.”
http://digiday.com/publishers/ad-blocker-usage-drops-40-percent-incisive-media-following-ban-trial/
“Adblocking and Counter-Blocking: A Slice of the Arms Race”
By Sheharbano Khattak, Light Blue Touch Paper (May 28)
Covers: Anti-adblocking use and atctics
“We find that at least 6.7% of Alexa Top-5K websites employ anti-adblocking, with the practices finding adoption across a diverse mix of publishers; particularly publishers of “General News”, “Blogs/Wiki”, and “Entertainment” categories.”
https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2016/05/28/adblocking-and-counter-blocking-a-slice-of-the-arms-race/
“Newspaper group takes ad blocking fight to Federal Trade Commission”
By Joe Pompeo, Politico (May 26)
Covers: Legal challenge to adblocking; FTC rules on business practice; anti-adblocking; Newspaper Association of America
“The NAA is asking the FTC to investigate certain ad blocking technologies that it says are misleading. For instance, a practice known as “paid whitelisting” enables advertisers to pay for shoddy, intrusive ads to be unblocked …”
http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/newspaper-group-takes-ad-blocking-fight-to-federal-trade-commission-004543#ixzz4A6yLLOHY
“UK Wireless Carrier Three Will Test Mobile Ad Blocking Technology Next Month: Should Online Publishers Be Afraid?”
By Quinten Plummer, Tech Times (May 29)
Covers: UK mobile carrier Three; network-wide adblocking; data charges and privacy; micro payments
“Three is planning to have an entire day where they will block approximately 95% of all ads that would be seen on their network. It will be an opt-in trial for customers, and will take place sometime between June 13th and 20th.”
http://www.slashgear.com/uk-carrier-three-to-test-mobile-ad-blocking-next-month-27441902/
“News Corp Australia to stop people using ad blockers from accessing sites”
By Steve Jones, mUmbrella (May 27)
Covers: NewsCorp Australia; anti-adblocking/content blocking of users of adblocking; protecting journalism; monetizing audiences
“News of the trial comes after media executives at the International News Media Association world congress urged the industry to take a harder line with ad blockers.”
https://mumbrella.com.au/news-corp-australia-stop-people-using-ad-blockers-accessing-sites-369686
“Clean Ads IO: Catching Up With Ad Blockers And The Blockers That Block Them”
By Allison Schiff, Ad Exhanger (May 25)
Covers: Clean Ads IO; ad-funded content; Acceptable Ads Programs
“By the end of the year, Eyeo plans to hand the Acceptable Ads program over to an independent review board to decide which ads are deemed worthy of passing through the filter. A big criticism of the program in the past was its lack of transparency.”
http://adexchanger.com/publishers/clean-ads-io-catching-ad-blockers-blockers-block/
“Adblocking is a small part of the bigger question, who controls the media?”
By Emilie Bell, The Guardian (March 7)
Covers: Adblocking effect on the news media; Government intervention; network-wide adblocking models.
“ … adblockers are used by people (voters AND readers) who don’t wish to harm the news industry, but do wish to halve their mobile phone data bills; in other words adblocking thrives because of a failure towards consumers.”
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/06/adblocking-control-publishers-mobile-web-access
