Dear publishers and advertisers: It's time to start worrying about ad blockers

BI Intelligence

For the past several years, the use of ad-block software has been a fringe behavior that publishers and advertisers didn't need to think much about. That is starting to change.

Overall, ad blockers are now used by ~5% of total internet users and climbing, according to PageFair, and this has the potenital to hurt both publishers and digital advertisers.

Ad-block software is typically a browser extension, that allows web users to prevent ads from appearing on the sites that they visit.

In a new research note from BI Intelligence, we cover the major points digital-media professionals need to know about the rise of ad blockers.

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Here are a few takeaways from the note.

• Ad block usage is growing fast. The number of people who have used ad blocking software globally on desktop and mobile grew 69% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2014 to 144 million people.
• Both advertisers and publishers stand to lose from ad-block software. Publishers that sell their ads based on cost per click (CPC) will lose out on revenue because visitors are never given the opportunity to click on an ad. Depending on how the ad-blocking software works, advertisers that buy their ads on an impression basis (CPM) may be paying for ads that are never seen.
• One piece of software, Adblock Plus, has amassed a huge global user base. Adblock Plus alone is used by ~2% of global internet users. And now Eyeo, the company behind Ablock Plus, is looking to collects fees from major digital-ad players to unblock their ads.

In full, the research note:

• Examines the growth of ad blocking software.
• Analyzes the impact of ad blocking on advertisers and publishers.
• Looks at what ads do and do not get blocked.
• Examines the recent move by Eyeo to charge fees in exchange for unblocking ads.

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