ad_blocking

Ad-blockers have been around for years now but it hasn’t been long since the world has really begun to worry about them. The understanding of this topic must flow from the basic definition for Ad-Blockers. Ad blockers are often also termed as content blockers and what they do is fairly simple: avoid advertisements from being shown on websites.

These are generally browser add-ons that prevent a particular type of script from showing up on a webpage. Already the famous iOS 9 came out with an inbuilt ad-blocker to kill all the hassle. The Ad-world has kind of created livelihoods for millions of people, so is it going to die? What is really going to happen?

1. Trends haven’t really changed yet
Ad-revenues haven’t decreased globally and marketers are advertisers are happy as of now. But why is it happening is something that needs to be looked into. Most users are visiting websites on their mobile devices and majorly without any ad-blockers. The real ad-blocking is happening on computers.

2. Monopoly with the Ad-blockers
Most of the ad-blockers have an acceptable ads section which they will flag green and show to the users like the ones on YouTube and certain others where the company has tied up with individual websites in the manner. There is also some news about AdBlock approaching twitter with such a value to include ads on twitter as acceptable.

3. Smaller advertisers may suffer
Those websites and advertisers who cannot afford cutting a deal with the ad-blockers are definitely going to suffer in the longer run. Conversions will become rare because almost no ads will show up. It is not very long before ad blocking becomes prominent on mobile devices as well and once that goes through it is going to be a nightmare.

4. User Experience is better
Most of the end users, according to a survey 70% (http://betanews.com/2015/11/13/are-ad-blockers-killing-marketing-efforts/) are extremely likely to use ad-blocking apps. The biggest reason is the user experience with the website. Users are going to be happy with viewing content now even if the website developer has created ad spaces everywhere. A banner of floating ad on a mobile device was always too irritating.

5. Security and Downloads
Most of the users even today head out to Google and query with a download xyz to download any software or application. In that process often websites show users ads that are surveys or some other sort of adware that can infect computers and also pave way for malware. This has been phased out because with the ad-blockers in place, the user sees only a legitimate link and all the ads vanish.

While it has its boons and banes it also raises an important question in the minds of advertisers, “how long before there is an end to ads, could end to ads mean an end to the free Internet?” This is a topic that has seen much heated debate across the globe and for now, there is no certain answer.