Dive Brief:
- Add U.K. publishers The Telegraph and Trinity Mirror to the list of media companies taking a strong stance against ad blocking technology by preventing users from viewing their content until the website visitors disable the software altogether or whitelist the site.
- Overall publishers are trying to figure out the best approach to ad blockers, with some taking no action, others seeking some measure of middle ground, and a relatively small number actively fighting potential visitors who use ad blocking technology.
- Recent research from Retale found that 57% of U.S. adults surveyed used ad blocking tech, and 63% of the millennial demographic used the software.
Dive Insight:
“Publishers are certainly becoming more confident about ad blocking,” Piers North, digital strategy director at Trinity Mirror, told Digiday. “Previously, we assumed it was our fault – but what we’re seeing now is the likes of Forbes and City A.M. saying ‘enough is enough’ and taking a strong stance on the issue by restricting people who use ad blockers.”
One issue with the hard line The Telegraph, Trinity Mirror and other publishers including Wired, GQ and Forbes, are taking with ad blocking software is most people install the technology to avoid a bad user experience on websites.
Simply blocking those users risks potential backlash against the brand by further frustrating already frustrated visitors. And, often ad blocker users are more tech savvy visitors, so publishers are potentially turning away and off a valuable target audience. And the tactic isn’t very successful – research from PageFair from last fall found that a miniscule one third of 1% of website visitors complied with turning off ad blocking software after being asked to do so.
One publisher taking a different approach to ad blockers is the Huffington Post, which is ramping up native ads instead of battling ad blockers. Kirsten Cieslar, senior strategy and development manager for Huffington Post Global, told the Wall Street Journal that native ads will likely become more important on Huffington Post websites than ads sold in the general media space.