Dive Brief:
- Fortune reports the New York Times is about to take what CEO Mark Thompson called the “nuclear option” by completely banning ad block tech users.
- Speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) Ad Blocking and User Experience Summit, Thompson said, "No one who refuses to contribute to the creation of high quality journalism has the right to consume it."
- The issue with that, as Fortune notes, is that readers feel differently. In fact, ad block software is projected to cost publishers $35 billion by 2020.
Dive Insight:
The online ad industry is struggling with ad block software and lacks a unified stance on how to approach the issue. Different publishers are taking different views toward the direct threat to the bottom line ad block tech represents.
The frustration felt by the New York Times and other digital publishers is understandable, but outright banning ad block tech users doesn't necessarily address the issue at the core of the problem. Consumers are fed up by a poor user experience and would rather block ads or avoid websites that don't allow ad blockers. For this reason, the “nuclear option” that the Times is considering could cost the brand faithful readers more than inspire those users to stop blocking ads.
There is no simple answer to the issue as evidenced by a certain level of paralysis at the highest levels of online advertising where industry players are failing to come up with solutions. Meanwhile, users have made it more than clear they are tired of facing malware, fraudulent ads, and digital advertising that just simply makes visiting a publisher’s website unpleasant.