Facing Up to Ad Blocking: How Publishers, Advertisers and Their Digital Media Partners Are Responding

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June 21, 2017
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Executive Summary

To stay on top, brands, publishers and their partners must constantly innovate their digital ads to better target, deliver and track messages to consumers. But few consumers are completely on board with the direction this innovation has taken, and many feel bombarded by the ad experience. As ad blocker use continues to grow, publishers face a newly challenging environment.

Just over a quarter of US internet users will block ads this year, though rates will exceed 50% among those ages 18 to 24. Desktop-based ad blocking still dominates, but rates of mobile blocking are on the rise.
Consumers block digital ads for three main reasons: security, privacy and fighting annoyance. Slow page load times and intrusive formats—major drivers of ad blocking—represent real problems for the digital media ecosystem.
Publishers are responding by appealing to users’ sense of fairness, blocking them from viewing content or finding technological means to defeat ad blocking plugins. Some are looking to paid models rather than ads, while others pay ad blocking companies to get their ads whitelisted.
Facebook and Google have taken steps to continue serving ads to all visitors, and together account for more than two-thirds of US desktop-based digital ad revenues. That means the ads that get blocked are on other publishers’ sites—the same ones that are already struggling as they see most incremental digital ad dollars going toward the duopoly.

"Internet users worldwide have mixed attitudes toward digital advertising, and a long list of complaints that lead to avoiding it. For example, Kantar Media’s “Dimension” report found that most see the same ads repeatedly—including ads for products they’ve already purchased."

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The Rise of Ad Blocking

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What’s So Bad About Ads?

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How Publishers Are Responding

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The Future of the Ad-Blocked Web

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19 charts are included in the full report:

Facing Up to Ad Blocking: How Publishers, Advertisers and Their Digital Media Partners Are Responding

Attitudes of Internet Users Worldwide Toward Advertising, Dec 2016 (% of respondents)

The Rise of Ad Blocking

US Ad Blocking User Penetration, 2014-2018 (% of internet users)

US Ad Blocking User Share, Desktop/Laptop vs. Smartphone, 2014-2018 (% of total)

US Ad Blocking User Penetration, by Age, 2014-2018 (% of internet users)

Marketing Professionals Worldwide Who Are Concerned About Select Digital Ad Issues, May 2016-March 2017 (% of respondents)

Primary Issue Facing Digital Advertising in 2017 According to US Digital Advertising Professionals (% of respondents)

Concerns with Digital Advertising According to US Media Planners, Aug 2016 (% of respondents)

Concerns About Digital Media Buying/Planning According to US Media Agency vs. Brand Marketing Executives, April 2016 (% of respondents)

What’s So Bad About Ads?

Attitudes of Internet Users Worldwide Toward Advertising, Dec 2016 (% of respondents)

Attitudes Toward Digital Ads Among Internet Users in Western Europe* and the US, June 2016 (% of respondents)

Reasons that Ad Blocking Users in the US and Western Europe* Use Ad Blockers, June 2016 (% of respondents)

Reasons that US Internet Users Block Digital Ads, Oct 2016 (% of respondents)

Primary Reason that US Millennial* Internet Users Use Desktop/Mobile Ad Blockers, July 2016 (% of respondents)

Effect of Ads on US Desktop Website Performance, May 2016

Reasons that US Internet Users Use Ad Blockers, Q3 2016 (% of respondents)

How Publishers Are Responding

US Ad Blocking Users Who Leave Websites When Faced with an Ad Block Wall*, by Age, Nov 2016 (% of respondents in each group)

Factors that Would Influence Internet Users in the US and Western Europe* to Turn Off Their Ad Blocker Permanently, by Age, June 2016 (% of respondents in each group)