Ad blocking: We Had it Coming

Is the internet really open?

Modern homepage Modern encyclopedia

Modern traffic cop Modern storefront

Meet: the gatekeepers

David Vs. WhatsHisName

Network of over 1 Million sites

IPO in 2011

Peak market cap: > $2BN

Revenue: over $100K per day

“Panda” release in 02/2012

Traffic declined by 85%

Current market cap: $123 Million

A reality check

The announcements

The reactions…

Pop-up & banner ads

PROS

Helps advertisers reach their performance goals

Monetization for publishers

Puts products/services in front of users they may not have been aware of

CONS

For publishers, redirects users off the site

For advertisers, lowers brand value

For users, bad UX

Real value?

Ad blockers usage

Sources: Pagefair, Forbes

Installed on ~12% of desktop browsers

70% YoY growth

In some countries (Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece) nearly one quarter of the online population has adblocker installed

41% of 18-29 year olds polled

said they use adblock

Legitimate consumer choice or

Theft?

Some annoying dilemmas? Pop-ups

Using ad blocker

Mobile view with ads

“Sticky” banner

Interstitial on every click

Publishers fight back

Native advertising

The effectiveness of native ads

NATIVE ADS

32%BANNER ADS

23%NATIVE ADS

52%BANNER ADS

34%

Lift in brand favorability Lift in purchase intent

Consumers looked at original editorial content and native ads for a similar amount of time

NATIVE ADS

1 min

ORGANIC CONTENT

1.2 min

Source: Sharethrough/IPG Media Lab - 2014

Example (Playbuzz)

Engagement rate91%

Completion rate86%

Avg. duration2:18Min

Prime location

promotion on Playbuzz.com

My $0.02 The users have voted

A cat and mouse chase is bad for both sides

The gatekeeper may be evil, but WE should be honest

Whether the threat is real or not, it’s a great wake up call