The document discusses the rise of ad blocking and its negative effects on online publishers and the digital advertising industry. It notes that ad blocking usage has grown significantly in recent years, especially among millennials and desktop users, costing the industry billions in lost revenue. Publishers face challenges to their business models from widespread ad blocking. The document explores strategies publishers can use to reduce the impact, such as changing ad formats and tailoring messages, but notes the issue remains a major threat.

1. Ad Block:
Blocking Ad Publishers’ SuccessBy: Shraddha Banglorewala
Image: Mary Queency (Flickr)

2. The nature of media and advertisement is constantly evolving.
Advertising techniques have to keep up with changing preferences
and habits with every new generation before they become outdated.7
Image: Rodion Kutsaev (Unsplash)

3. The digital advertising industry is now facing a crisis – Millennials, also
known as the “digital natives” are blind to ads on social sites, they
simply skip, disregard or block them.4
Image: Oscar Keys (Unsplash)

4. Online ad publishers are now facing a crisis that can essentially put an
end to their existence.11
Image: Carlos Muza (Unsplash)

5. “Ad blocking software is here to stay and has the potential to
negatively impact both advertisers and publishers.”12
Image: Cgc76 (Flickr)

6. Henrik Aasted Sørensen, wrote the source code for Adblock in 2002 as
a 'procrastination project’ in University - today well known as AdBlock
Plus, it has become the most widely used ad blocking software.9
Image: Markus Spiske (Unsplash)

7. "Adblock Plus has become the internet’s advertising sheriff.”11
- Michael Rosenwald
Image: Céline Aussourd (Flickr)

8. An Adobe report from 2015 shows that 198 million people globally
are now blocking ads. In the US, ad blocking grew 48% from last year,
to 45 million users.10
Image: João Silas (Unsplash)

9. Adobe says that $21.8 billion in global ad revenue will be
lost this year, a massive loss and threat for publishers.11
Image: Didier Weemaels (Unsplash)

10. People between the ages of 18 and 29 are the most frequent
ad blockers (41%).12
Image: Bruno
Gomiero
(Unsplash)

11. Men are 48% more likely than women to use ad blocking software
while browsing the internet.12
Image: Nala Connect (Unsplash)

12. Ad blocking differs by industry - visitors on gaming websites are
significantly more likely to block ads compared to when visiting
health, charity and government websites.6
Image: Viktor Hanacek (PicJumbo)

13. . Why do people block ads?
“Online ads are obtrusive, obnoxious, annoying” 11
- Michael Rosenwald
Image: Trevor Hurlbut (Flickr)

14. Sparkle of hope for publishers - Most ad blocking occurs on desktops.
Mobile advertising has been a growth market – now capturing 50% of
all digital advertising.2
Image: William Iven (Unsplash)

15. However with the iOS 9, Apple is enabling allowing users to
block ads.8
Image: TAKA@P.P.R.S (Flickr)

16. With Apple’s dominance in the mobile industry, this further pushes
the AdBlock technology into the mainstream.11
Image: Yuanbin Du (Unsplash)

17. Publishers have to make peace with the growth of ad blocking, but
fight back by changing their strategies instead of accepting defeat.12
Image: Ryan McGuire (Gratisography)

18. Key strategies to reduce the cost per impression:
1. Craft the right message to target your audience.12
2. Embrace real-time marketing.12
3. Native ads which are essentially ads in disguise are a great way to reach
consumers who have already adopted ad-blocking software.12
4. Use better data to create ads that are relevant and catered to target
audience.5
Image: Katy Belcher (Unsplash)

19. Counter ad blocking software exists.
PageFair has developed new technology that allows publishers to
display acceptable ads bypassing the blocking software.
SourcePoint lets publisher put on popup messages which advices
users to turn off ad block for their site.3
Image: Bethany Legg (Unsplash)

20. Publishers can also can also become “whitelisted,” if their ads meet a
certain criteria and are approved by an AdBlock Plus employee.1
Image: Drew Patrick Miller (Unsplash)

21. “We are not in a sustainable media ecosystem today” - Publishers
have to make money; with the appropriate strategy modifications,
they can capture the remaining potential in the market.11
Image: Farrel Nobel (Unsplash)

22. Image Sources
All Images Used have a Creative Commons License
Aussourd, C. (2012, January 31). Sheriff [Slide 7]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/bmipJM
Gomiero, B. (2016, May 20). [Slide 10]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/collections/314514/social-media?photo=jp7J14W9sSg
Hurlbut, T. (2010, May 11). It's Fire [Slide 13]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/7W9QHp
Queency, M. (2014, March 8). [Slide 1]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/kZrUfb
Belcher, K. (2015, November 6). [Slide 18]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/key?photo=uVX0tmFdNEg
Cgc76. (2013, March 30). Stop Sign in Amish Country [Slide 5]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/mM841j
Connect, N. (2016, April 30). [Slide 11]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/collections/327289/facebook-ads?photo=IXHNBGTKJfw
Du, Y. (2016, April 28). [Slide 16]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/apple?photo=SmLuEzJvw4U
Hanacek, V. (n.d.). Action Pro Gaming Mouse Close Up at Night [Slide 12]. Retrieved from https://picjumbo.com/action-pro-gaming-mouse-close-up-
at-night/
Iven, W. (2015, February 11). [Slide 14]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/collections/314514/social-media?photo=SpVHcbuKi6E
Keys, O. (2016, January 28). [Slide 3]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/AmPRUnRb6N0
Kutsaev, R. (2016, January 23). [Slide 2]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/pocket-watch?photo=UIUgYu9bENU
Legg, B. (2015, February 18). [Slide 19]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/sunshine?photo=75nbwHfDsnY
McGuire, R. (n.d.). [Slide 17]. Retrieved from http://gratisography.com
Miller, D. P. (2016, January 7). [Slide 20]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/door?photo=15oMQ1S9de0
Muza, C. (2016, April 17). [Slide 4]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/collections/353744/business?photo=hpjSkU2UYSU
Nobel, F. (2016, June 18). [Slide 21]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/computers?photo=BhLFK8lHvUs
Silas, J. (2015, August 10). [Slide 8]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/globe?photo=-03UAJK6-w8
Spiske, M. (2016, July 9). [Slide 6]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/coding?photo=xekxE_VR0Ec
TAKA@P.P.R.S. (2015, October 16). ADBlock [Slide 15]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/zQmjsw
Weemaels, D. (2015, September 24). [Slide 9]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/collections/388522/money-revenue?photo=ZKVBM2_Dp84

23. Works Cited
1. Adblock Plus. (n.d.). Allowing acceptable ads in Adblock Plus. Retrieved October 22, 2016, from https://adblockplus.org/
acceptable-ads
2. Anne Salz, P. (2016, June 14). Mobile ad blocking on the rise. What’s that mean for digital publishers? Retrieved from https://
digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2016/06/14/mobile-ad-blocking-on-the-rise-whats-that-mean-for-digital-publishers/
3. Kulp, P. (2015, August 31). Ad-blockers are terrifying companies and publishers, but ... Retrieved from http://mashable.com/
2015/08/31/ad-block/
4. Matrix, S. E. (n.d.). Part 1 Advertising Strategies - Slide 4. Lecture presented at Module 02 Lecture.
5. Mortished, C. (2015, July 3). With ad-blocking software, readers have declared war on ... Retrieved from http://
www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/executive-insight/with-ad-blocking-software-readers-have-
declared-war-on-publishers/article25234621/
6. Nayar, V. (2015, August 10). Over 198 Million People All Around The World Now Use Ad ... Retrieved from http://
www.techtimes.com/articles/75508/20150810/over-198-million-people-world-now-use-ad-blocking-software.htm
7. Newman, D. (2015, April 28). Research Shows Millennials Don't Respond To Ads. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/
danielnewman/2015/04/28/research-shows-millennials-dont-respond-to-ads/#685ed81d5599
8. O'Reilly, L. (2015, June 11). Apple seems ready to let iPhone users block all ads they see on the web — which will really hurt
publishers. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios9-to-allow-ad-blocking-on-iphones-and-ipads-2015-6
9. O'Reilly, L. (2015, July 14). The inventor of Adblock tells us he wrote the code as a 'procrastination project' at university — and
he's never made money from it. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-the-inventor-of-the-ad-blocker-
henrik-aasted-srensen-2015-7
10. PageFair Team. (2015, August 10). The 2015 Ad Blocking Report. Retrieved from https://pagefair.com/blog/2015/ad-blocking-
report/
11. Rosenwald, M. (2015, September/October). The digital media industry needs to react to ad blockers ... Retrieved from http://
www.cjr.org/business_of_news/will_ad_blockers_kill_the_digital_media_industry.php
12. Zajechowski, M. (2015, November 16). Ad Blocking and Its Effects on Advertisers and Publishers. Retrieved from http://
relevance.com/ad-blocking-and-its-effects-on-advertisers-and-publishers/