Research showing a 41% rise in the usage of ad blockers worldwide has also given the advertising industry an idea of which sites are being targeted by software developers.
New from Adobe and PageFair, the ‘2015 Ad Blocking Report’ drills down into the publishers being targeted by controversial desktop and mobile tools such as AdBlock Plus and Privoxy, which aim to rid the internet of certain types of commercial inventory.
A graphic from the pair shows many sites being affected and it’s not good news for those on the consumer-focused side of things.
If the table proves to be true, 26.5% of gaming publishers could be losing millions in advertising revenue when their placements don’t load up.
Social networking sites like Facebook are another big loser, with 19.1% of publishers being targeted, and the figure for revenue lost shows few signs of dropping.
The growing issue
Another table from the report shows just how far the ad-blocking phenomenon has come since the first batch of tools entered the mainstream.
From January 2010 to January 2015, the number of global ad-block users has grown from 21 million to 181 million. That figure has since grown to 198 million in June – rising 41% year on year – and is bound to exceed the 200 million mark by the end of 2015.
Publisher losses are judged at $21.8 billion but notes from the report brand ad blocking as a “viral phenomenon that will continue”.
Adding to the advertisers’ worries is the fact that, according to the report, 50% of people block ads due to feeling irate over their information being used to personalised messaging.
This won’t be great news to brands ramping up their personalised ad efforts, primarily with the goal of making their communications more relevant and useful.