Almost 47% percent of internet users across the world use ad blockers and that number is steadily growing. This causes a significant problem for publishers because digitals ads are substantial portion of revenue. In response to the increasing use of ad blockers, there have been industry initiatives launched like creating councils that set standards for ads in order to reduce the number of inconvenient ads that cause users to install an ad blocker in the first place. To help publisher, there are also AdTech vendors who offer free ad-block calculators that to see how many users are being lost due to ad blockers.
Some strategies to navigate around the blockers is to have soft walls which allows access certain number of free articles but ask users to whitelist in order to view more pages. On the other hand, paid subscriptions for an ad-free experience can offset the loss of ad revenue.
Another choice are native ads that blend with content and can bypass ad blockers. As a Forbes article states, while these type of ads contribute to a positive user experience, “they aren’t as effective yield-wise as display ads and might not be practical for all publishers.” There is also a sort of loophole for users who have blockers with an Acceptable Ads option - certain high-quality UX ads can still be shown to users that self-select into this standard.
If there were better strategies around advertising, changes in where the ads are placed, and an improvement in user experience, it would help alleviate user concerns about ads. However, to influence a user to not rely on ad blockers will likely only happen if publishers universally improve their advertising best practices. Until then, publishers will need to find additional way to recuperate revenue with other streams that maintain a positive user experience.
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