Dive Brief:
- Ad revenue is increasingly moving online and ad blocking software is a significant issue for advertisers and publishers alike.
- In fact, there is now a technology marketplace for software that counters ad blocking tech.
- Around 5% of Internet users worldwide employ some form of ad blocking software.
Dive Insight:
In a shadowy spy-versus-spy world, one group seeks Internet packet data to kill off offending domains and the other hopes to hide the information that sets off those alarms. Looked at under the light of day it’s really just Internet users – around 5% worldwide – utilizing ad blocking software to avoid seeing what they consider intrusive element to their web experience, and the other group working to get those ads served to deliver marketing messages and make sure ad delivery networks and publishers get paid for those online ads.
Whether online ads are served or not is becoming big business. According to eMarketer, online ad spending will reach $171 billion this year, up 18% from 2014 and representing almost a third of total ad spending in the 22 markets tracked.
Publishers actually face a double dose of trouble from ad blocking software because the tech is designed to block ads, but it also can block tracking cookies preventing publishers from getting valuable first-party data on their readers’ onsite behavior.
