Adblock Plus held 'Camp David' peace talks with publishers and advertisers in New York last week - here's what it learned
At the dinner and discussion, dubbed #CampDavid - referencing the US President's country retreat where peace treaties are often hatched - the popular ad blocker (popular among consumers, not so popular amongst those in the room whose business models are being threatened by the rising use of ad blocking technology) asked for advice about how to form its Acceptable Ads Committee.
The Committee, announced last month, will act as an independent review board for its Acceptable Ads program - the whitelist that allows "non-intrusive" advertising through its ad blocker. Big digital advertising companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Taboola pay Adblock Plus owner Eyeo huge fees to get on the list, but the service is free for smaller sites.
Writing in a blog post, Eyeo communications and operations manager Ben Williams admits the company was initially nervous about Camp David: "We didn't really know what to expect: would people be pissed? Would we get yelled at? Would they care? Would it be more productive than most of the meetings at the real Camp David? Would there … be blood?"
But fortunately for Eyeo, the three-hour-plus meeting didn't see attendees baying for the ad blocker's blood, and was actually polite and constructive, according to Williams.
However, Williams said Eyeo was surprised and "kinda stung" that many in the room did not have a perception that the ad blocking company was as transparent as possible about its business model - referring to the fees it receives from big advertising companies. Eyeo's critics argue that the company should reveal who is paying to be whitelisted and how much they are paying, whereas Eyeo says NDA agreements prevent it from doing so.
But he added that Eyeo has taken that on board and has "some great ideas about how to communicate what we do a little clearer," which will soon be published on the blog.
Plans for the Acceptable Ads Committee
But other than that, the meeting was fairly positive for Eyeo.
Williams said the group had "little objection" to the objectives Eyeo has set for the committee, which are: "Protect the user experience, only allow formats that Adblock users do not find intrusive, allow formats that provide meaningful monetization opportunities, all proposed changes/additions must be technically feasible and based on data."
The majority of the feedback Eyeo received was about how to structure its committee and also about who would own the committee. It was decided that an independent, likely nonprofit, foundation would be the owner of the new committee, to allow it to maintain its independence.
There was also lots of feedback about the types of groups that should be represented within the committee - consumer groups, advertisers, ad tech companies, publishers, content creators, advertisers, academics, and so on were all suggested.
Eyeo has yet to finalize a list or announce names of who will sit on the committee, with Williams saying it is still in the planning stage.
Not everyone in the advertising and publishing community was enthusiastic about Camp David New York.
Jason Kint, the CEO of publisher trade body Digital Content Next, published a blog post explaining he was declining his invite because he was troubled by Eyeo's business model, which he said profits from allowing ads to be served.
He wrote: "If AdBlock Plus publicly stated which companies were paying them for whitelisting ads and the terms under which this was happening, then my level of trust would increase dramatically. I would even show up at their meeting!"
Williams says the next step is to repeat the Camp David event in London to get feedback from European advertisers, journalists, publishers, and more.