With the use the ad blocking software on the rise, it is set to cost publishers in excess of $40bn by the end of next year according to a report from Adobe and anti-ad blocking firm PageFair, with European audiences more likely to block commercial content, compared to their US counterparts.
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It is estimated that the global cost of ad-blocking will reach $41.48 billion by 2016 which is almost double this year’s estimated figures.
In the 12 months prior to June, ad-blocker usage in the United States soared by 45 percent; in the UK, the statistic increased during the same span by 82 percent, the study found.
In the past year, ad blocking increased by 41% across the world-an indicator that people are increasingly turning to the software to rid their browsing experience of pesky advertisements.
The writers of the report conclude that ad blocking has resulted from “intrusive, annoying, irrelevant or downright creepy” ads, and that users must be treated with respect if they are expected to tolerate advertising they can turn off with a click.
With many websites impacted with up to 27% lost ad inventory, the report suggest that ad-blocking now poses an existential threat for the future of free content on the Internet.
It seems we’ve had it up to here with internet advertising – and it’s costing the industry billions in lost ad revenue.
Software vendor Adobe is backing PageFair in its attempts to stem the online revenue hemorrhage.
The report further explains that ad blocking, which has been concentrated on desktop browsers, is now spreading to mobile in Asia.
“It is tragic that ad block users are inadvertently inflicting multi-billion dollar losses on the very websites they most enjoy“.
PageFair chief executive and co-founder Sean Blanchfield, said: “With ad blocking going mobile, there’s an eminent threat that the business model that has supported the open web for two decades is going to collapse.”
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Mobile phones are just starting to get into the fun, too: A variety of custom Web browsers for iOS and Android phones have ad-blocking built in or allow users to install software that adds the capability.
