Youth in France Fickle About Ad Blockers

Younger internet users there more likely to try, but also to ditch, the technology

December 14, 2016 | Demographics | Advertising & Marketing

Younger internet users in France are far more likely to have installed ad blockers than their older peers, according to an October 2016 survey conducted by Interactive Advertising Bureau France (IAB France). Over 50% of those ages 16 to 24 surveyed had installed ad blocking technology, the study found.

Users ages 16 to 24 were the only age group in which a majority of respondents had installed ad blockers. As ages climbed, the percentage of those who had installed ad blockers diminished. Overall, 33% or fewer of those ages 35 or older had done so.

But younger users were also more likely to deactivate their ad blockers. IAB France found 70% of respondents ages 16 to 24 had deactivated an ad blocker, as had 63% of respondents ages 25 to 34. But only about half of respondents ages 50 and older had done so.

For marketers concerned about losing millennial eyeballs in France, younger internet users there may be more swayable when it comes to turning off their ad blockers, whether because they want to visit websites that ask them to turn off their blockers or because they want to see the ads.

Or they could just reflect a population with a more unbothered attitude about digital advertising in general compared to consumers in similarly advanced digital markets. Other studies have found overall enthusiasm for ad blockers—specifically, desktop ones—lower in France than in the US, Canada and in most other countries in Western Europe.

—Ben Clague