This document discusses the rise of ad-blocking software and its negative impact on online publishers' revenue from advertisements. As ad-blocking usage increases, publishers are losing billions in annual revenue. Many users find online ads annoying and disruptive. Publishers are exploring ways to circumvent ad-blocking, such as whitelisted ads or native advertising, but there is no clear solution yet. The growth of ad-blocking threatens the entire digital advertising industry.

1. THE FALL OF
ADVERTISING
AT THE HANDS OF AD-BLOCKING SOFTWARE
BY: SALLY GUDEWILL

2. DIGITAL MARKETERS
WITHIN THE MEDIA
INDUSTRY REGULARLY
RUN INTO NEW RIVALS
WHO ARE
CONSTANTLY TRYING
TO TAKE THEIR
REVENUE (1)
Image: Didier Weemael(Unsplash)

3. THIS IS BAD NEWS FOR ONLINE
PUBLISHERS, ESPECIALLY FOR
THOSE WHO ARE DEPENDENT ON
ADVERTISING FOR A LARGE
SECTION OF THEIR REVENUE (2)
RECENTLY THERE HAS BEEN AN
INCREASE IN THE
USE OF AD-
BLOCKER
SOFTWARE
Image: Olu Eletu (Unsplash)

4. “AD FILTERING OR AD BLOCKING IS REMOVING OR
ALTERING ADVERTISING CONTENT IN A WEBPAGE.
ADVERTISING CAN EXIST IN A
VARIETY OF FORMS INCLUDING PICTURES,
ANIMATIONS, EMBEDDED AUDIO AND VIDEO,
TEXT, OR POP-UP WINDOWS AND CAN EMPLOY
AUTO-PLAY OF AUDIO AND VIDEO.” (3)
- RESEARCH.OMCISROUP
]DESIGNED BY ONLYYOUQJ - FREEPIK.COM

5. GOOGLE
WHILE COMPANIES SUCH AS
HAVE LOST OVER 6 BILLION US DOLLARS
ALONE, BECAUSE OF GOOGLE USER'S USE OF AD-
BLOCKERS
ADBLOCK PLUS,
ONE OF THE HIGHEST USED AD-BLOCKING SOFTWARE PROVIDERS, DECLARED
THAT 300 MILLION DOWNLOADS OF THEIR APP (12)
Designed by Creativeart ­ Freepik.com

6. PAGE FAIR
HASILLUSTRATEDTHAT
WITHINAYEAR$21.8
BILLIONOFGLOBAL
REVENUEWASLOST
FROMPUBLISHERSIN
2015DUETOAD-
BLOCKERS(4)
Image: kstudio (Unsplash)

7. MORE THAN 43
MILLION PEOPLE
PREDICTED BY ANALYTICS FIRM
OPTIMAL, IT IS ESTIMATED THAT
IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE WILL
USE AD BLOCKER IN 2016. THIS IS A
THREAT OF
TO THE DIGITAL
AD INDUSTRY. (6)
OVER 3.8 BILLION
Image: Jaelynn Castillo (Unsplash)

8. USERS
OF AD-BLOCKING
SOFTWARE ARE
USUSALLY
BETWEEN THE
AGES 18 AND 29.
(7)
Image: Seth Doyle (Unsplash

9. WEB USERS
are tired of pop-up ads. In a study conducted by Digital
Content Next, participates explained what four aspects of
digital ads that they found annoying:
1. COVER CONTENT (70%)
2. AUTOMATICALLY PLAYING WITH SOUND (70%)
3. TRACKING THEIR ONLINE BEHAVIOR (68%)
4. CAUSE WEBPAGES TO LOAD SLOWLY (57%) (8)
designed by Freepik in interface from Flaticon

10. THE GUARDIAN,
As a result, websites such as the online newspaper
have begun to add pop-up messages to readers who have ad-
blocking software on their device, and asking them “make a
contribution” in order to combat ad-blockers effectively (12)
Designed by Freepik

11. SIMILIARLY,
FORBES
HAS RECENTLY BEEN TESTING
DIFFERENT WAYS TO SOLVE THIS
PROBLEM. STOPPING ANY ACCESS
TO USERS WHO HAVE AD-
BLOCKING SOFTWARE ON WITH A
POP-UP MESSAGE, STATING THAT
THEY MUST TURN OFF ANY AD-
BLOCKERS AND IN RETURN
EXPERIENCE FEWER ADS. (2)
designed by 2happy from Stockvault

12. IN TRUTH, 64% OF PEOPLE HAVE
DOWNLOADED AD-BLOCKERING SOFTWARE
FOR THIS REASON ALONE (9)
However, forcing ads on users, is not a long-term solution
for the ad-blocking problem
Image: Luis Llerena ­ (Unsplash)

13. FORBES IN PARTICULAR
HAS BEGUN USING
Designed by Blossomstar ­ Freepik.com
ADVERTISING
PRODUCTS, WHICH
ALLOWS MARKETERS TO
PLACE ADS ON THE SITE
WHICH ARE NOT
VULNERABLE TO AD
BLOCKING SOFTWARE (2)
“NATIVE”

14. isatermused"todescribea
spectrumofnewonline
advertisingformsthatsharea
focusonminimizingdisruption
toaconsumer'sonline
experiencebyappearingin-
stream."(10)
Image: Jay Wennington (Unsplash)
NATIVE
ADVERTISING

15. 1. For publishers to become "whitelisted", which means their ads
would have to be approved by an AdBlock Plus employee and meet
their criteria. (11)
2. Or to use some form of Counter ad-blocking software, such as
PageFair which that permits publishers to show acceptable ads
circumventing the blocking software. (13)
Designed by Freepik
OTHER SOLUTIONS:

16. “The online display advertising industry is a catastrophic failure
because the IAB has condoned and promoted publishing behavior
that has led to this ad blocking epidemic.”
Designed by Freepik
WHO IS TO BLAME?
“Publishers are to blame. So are brands. So is ad tech,”
- Ari Rosenberg, founder of ad sales consultancy Performance Pricing
- wrote Digiday media writer Ricardo Bilton at the end of 2015. (8)

17. “YOUR HOUSE,
YOUR RULES, YOUR
ADS,”
PageFair understand both sides
of the debate, and that many
users find online ads highly
annoying and that ad-blocking
software companies try to
alleviate this, but in the end
PageFair believes that it is
essential that publishers must
show their ads, particularly ones
that generate a lot of revenue.
(4)
- BLANCHFIELD SAID. MAJOR US PUBLISHERS
Designed by Freepik

18. is examining the affect ad-
blocking has had on the U.S.
economy. Advertising revenues
represents $350 billion of the U.S.
gross national product, and
citizens are dependent on it to
produce $9 trillion of annual
spending decisions. (1)
Designed by Graphictwister - Freepik.com
MORE
IMPORTANTLY,

19. AT RISK.
UNTIL WE COMMIT TO THE CAUSE OF EVER-
IMPROVING USER EXPERIENCES, ADVERTISERS
AND MEDIA WILL BE
FreeImages.com/dlritter

20. SOURCES:
(1) Rothenberg, R. (September 22, 2015). Ad blocking: The Unnecessary Internet
Apocalypse ­ The Ad Industry Needs to Disrupt the Disruptors. Advertising Age
Retreieved October 22, 2016, from http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ad­blocking­
unnecessary­internet­apocalypse/300470/
(2) Marshall, J. (May 13, 2016). Forbes Tests New Tactics to Combat Ad Blocking. The Wall
Street Journal Retrieved October 20, 2016 , from http://www.wsj.com/articles/forbes­tests­
new­tactics­to­combat­ad­blocking­1463133628
(3) OMICS International. (n.d.). Ad blocking. Retrieved from October 21, 2016, from
http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Ad_blocking
(4) PageFair. (2015). The Cost of Ad Blocking: PageFair and Adobe 2015 Ad Blocking
Report. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from https://downloads.pagefair.com/wp­
content/uploads/2016/05/2015_report­the_cost_of_ad_blocking.pdf
(5) Murphy, K. (February 20, 2016). The Ad blocking Wars. The New York Times
Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/the­
ad­blocking­wars.html?_r=1
6) Jackson, J. (May 17, 2016). Adblockers: US growth could remove $12 advertising by
2020. The Guardian
Retrieved October 23, 2016, from
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/17/adblockers­us­growth­remove­12bn­
advertising­2020

21. (7) Zajechowski, M. (November 16, 2015). Ad Blocking and Its Effects on Advertisers and
Publishers. Relevance Retrieved October 22, 2016, http://www.relevance.com/ad­blocking­
and­its­effects­on­advertisers­and­publishers/
(8) Innovation: Media Consulting Group. (October 13, 2016). How to solve the ad­blocking
crisis: Fix don’t fight. Retrieved October 21, 2016, http://innovation.media/magazines/how­
to­solve­the­ad­blocking­crisis­fix­dont­fight
(9) Lattrell, B. Combat Ad Blocking with Influencer Marketing. Business2Community.
Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://www.business2community.com/digital­
marketing/combat­ad­blocking­influencer­marketing­01615782#FAb1ERM37iGagwZ4.97
(10) Campbell, C., & Marks, L. (2015). Good natives advertising isn’t a secret. Business
Horizons, 58(6), 599­606. Retrieved October 23, 2016 from
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.06.003
(11) Adblock Plus. (n.d.). Allowing acceptable ads in Adblock Plus. Retrieved October 22,
2016, from https://adblockplus.org/ acceptable­ads
(12) Mortished, C. (2015, July 3). Readers have declared war on Publishers. Globe and
Mail Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1692898375?
accountid=6180
(13) Kulp, P. (2015, August 31). Ad­blockers are terrifying companies and publishers, but ...
Retrieved from http://mashable.com/ 2015/08/31/ad­block/
SOURCES: