Press: MediaPost - Winning over the Adblockers

Published in MediaPost on 4/25/16 A quick search of Google Trends, and it’s clear interest in ad blocking has reached an all-time high. According to a study by Retale, 20% of adults are now using an ad blocker on their mobile device. The industry is facing a challenge when it comes to convincing the blockers to embrace advertising.

To resolve the issue, the industry need to understand why users are implementing ad blockers. The main reasons usually cited by the industry are normally data consumption, load times and battery use. These are all valid, but when looked at closely, they don’t seem to be the main cause of ad blocking. Research by Global Web Index found that only one third of users state page load times are the reason for using an ad blocker, while just three in ten said battery life was the motive for installing the software.

The real key to the problem lies in irrelevant advertising. Poorly targeted ads annoy users, do not generate high revenues for publishers and waste brands’ advertising budgets. While most advertising online today employs some level of targeting, it tends to focus around building audience profiles. This is, without a doubt, a hugely important part of targeting, but it neglects a huge amount of data.

Read the rest of the article on MediaPost here.