Discover what is an ad blocker and how is it costing you money. Find how it’s shaping today’s publishing industry and ways to win back lost revenue.
Ad-blocking tech is a rapidly evolving landscape. They have existed since 2009; today, 42.7% of internet users use one (CropInk).
There are two sides to every coin; the same can be said for ad blockers. On the one hand, ad blockers can be great for blocking annoying or intrusive ads. On the other hand, they can also block ads that support websites, hurting the website’s functionality and revenue stream.
But that’s not all. There is more than that, which can leave you and the overall internet ecosystem awestruck.
So, in this post, we will cover everything about ad blockers you need to know as a publisher. We will also shed light on some actionable tips you can employ to make ad-watching a pleasant experience for your users.
What is an Ad Blocker?
Before heading to the nitty-gritties of ad blocking, we will answer some fundamental questions like “What is an ad blocker?” or “What does an ad blocker do?”.
An ad blocker tool is software utilized by internet users to block the display of online ads while browsing the internet. Technically speaking, ad blockers are designed to block the code and tracking script that advertisers utilize to display ads on a user’s device.
Many users use ad blocking to enhance their browsing experience with faster loading times and minimized interruptions. However, it can also pose security risks due to the questionable legitimacy of the ad blocker or vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.
Now that we have covered “what is ad blocking?”, let’s know its types.
Types of Ad Blockers
The answer to “what is an ad blocker?” can never be complete without delving into its types. A few of them include:
1. Browser Extensions
The most common type of ad blockers, these extensions integrate with the user’s browser in order to come into effect. The ad-blocking extensions can either be downloaded from web stores or dedicated websites.
2. In-built Ad Blockers
Many web browsers like Brave browser’s Brave Shield come with in-built ad blockers. These powerful blockers offer flexible ad blocking without compromising the security or user’s privacy.
3. Standalone Applications
Less frequently used, these ad-blocking software are separately installed by the user on their device. Unlike the above two, they offer system-wide ad-blocking features. So, even if you use an app on your device, the application will block the ads.
4. DNS-based Ad Blocking
An advanced form of ad blocking, the DNS ad blocker tool intercepts the requests made to certain domains and blocks them even before it reaches the user’s server. It also hands out a fake IP address to redirect the requests to a blackhole, rendering them invalid.
How Do Ad Blockers Work?
Now it’s time to understand how an adblocker tool works. There are two ways an ad blocker tool works:
1. White Lists
Also called allow lists, these include websites where ad blocking isn’t allowed. In such cases, users are denied access to the content if the ad blocker is enabled.
But, can the users not go to other sites, you may ask? The answer is no, in most cases, as these websites are important enough for users that ad serving must be enabled.
2. Black Lists
Black lists, also called block lists, are the opposite of white lists. This list contains websites (like ad.doubleclick.net) frequently used by advertisers to serve ads. So, ads coming from any blocklist websites are intercepted by the ad blocker tool and won’t be loaded by the browser.
Why do Visitors Use Ad Blockers?
We have covered the basics of “ what is an ad blocker?”. Now, let’s understand why visitors use ad blockers. Some of them include:
- Block intrusive ads that either cover the whole device screen or block the context
- Decrease website latency to improve the user experience
- Block malicious ads that can install virus or other malware if clicked
- Disable tracking by advertisers who would bombard a user with ads on recently searched items
- To save battery and reduce data consumption
How Ad Blockers Affect the Publishers?
While reading about “what is an ad blocker?”, you must be thinking – how does it affect publishers? Bringing you up to speed, ad blockers can affect a publisher’s business in many ways, such as:
1. Loss of Revenue for Websites
An Adblocker extension may seem convenient for removing ads from web pages, but can also negatively affect websites.
Many websites rely on advertising as their primary source of revenue, and when ads are blocked, it can significantly decrease their income.
This can lead to reduced funding for the website and potentially even cause it to shut down.
Additionally, by using an ad blocker tool, visitors may be depriving themselves of meaningful content funded by advertising. Without ads, many websites can not afford to produce and maintain high-quality content.
Potentially Broken Website Functionality
Ad blocker extensions are indeed effective in preventing ads by running through various complex filters. But these filters are based on open-source lists of URIs and CSS selectors, which are constantly updated to keep up with the rapidly changing world of ad tech.
Since it uses innumerable complex filters, it can disrupt or break a website’s functionality, leading to a poor user experience.
In other words, if a website relies on ads for revenue and an ad blocker prevents those ads from loading, the website may not function as intended or display correctly.
This could be frustrating for users who cannot access the full range of features or content on the website.
Additionally, some websites may require the display of ads to offer their services for free, and using an ad blocker could potentially limit the availability of such free services.
Potential for Ad Blockers to Block Non-Intrusive Ads
It’s true that an ad blocker can help improve the overall browsing experience by keeping unwanted and intrusive ads from popping up and interrupting the browsing experience. However, it’s important to remember that not all ads are bad.
In fact, some website owners rely on advertising as a way to generate revenue so they can continue offering free content. So, while an ad blocker extension can be helpful, users should make sure to whitelist any sites that they frequently use and trust.
It’s because it prevents the users from missing out on any important content or messages they might be trying to share through advertising.
How to Detect Ad Blockers?
Publishers can detect ad blockers with anti-ad-blocking scripts. These few lines of code create baits for the adblock tool to detect whether the user has enabled the ad blocker.
The adblock detection script creates hidden sections or divs within the publisher’s website. Another code snippet is placed within the website’s HTML code to check whether these divs exist or not. If they do, then the user is not using ad blockers. But if the divs are not there, then the script has been blocked by the ad blocker tool.
There’s another way these scripts work. Some anti-adblock software triggers the adblock tool by referencing the names of mainstream IAB standard ad image sizes. The script would then detect whether these elements were displayed on the website or not.
How to get Visitors to Disable/Remove Ad Blockers?
Here are some ways to convince your users to disable ad blockers:
1. Ad Blocker Extensions With Acceptable Ads Programs
Many ad block extensions remove the ads and help improve user experience by not going against the website’s primary function of providing the content.These ad blockers usually work by white-listing certain ad types that are considered to be non-intrusive or even helpful to the user. They do it while still providing revenue to the website through these “acceptable ads”.
2. Polite Messaging and Whitelist the Website
Rather than opting for aggressive tactics, you can display a polite and respectful message on your website to educate your viewers on the importance of your website’s revenue from ads.
Also, you can even request them to simply whitelist your website rather than completely disabling the ad blocker tool.
3. Law-compliant Data Collection Policy
The publishers should ask for permission to store and use cookies. In fact, it is now mandated by government regulations in some regions (Like the EU and California). Next, publishers should assure users that their data is safe from third parties. On top of that, update the cookie policy, keeping user security in mind.
4. Limited Access or a Soft Wall
Some websites don’t allow their content to be shown to users who use ad blockers. But let’s be honest: this can come off as an aggressive approach.
In place of this, you can simply limit the content access for users who have enabled ad blockers. For example, you can limit the number of articles for an adblock-using visitor and request them to turn it off for complete access.
How Can Publishers Tackle Ad Blockers in the Long Term?
Requesting the users to disable ad blockers or deploying a soft wall are temporary measures to get visitors to drop the ad blocker. However, you would require a long-term strategy that would improve the overall user experience.
Imagine: What if your users don’t use ad blockers at all? Here are some actionable tips to turn this thought into reality.
1. Thoughtful Ad Formats
In most cases, users turn to ad blockers due to intrusive ad formats like auto-playing video ads with sound, full screen scroll over ads, or interstitial ads with a countdown. No user would like to entertain such ads.
Publishers that still use these ad formats should reconsider their ad layout. Sometimes, while focusing on content and revenue generation, publishers overlook users.
Now the question comes: what can you do about it? It’s simpler than it looks. Become a part of the Better Ads initiative that advocates for non-intrusive and mindful ad formats.
The Better Ads Standard has criteria for various ad formats to make them user-friendly. You can refer to the image below for more information.
2. Optimize Ad Size and Page Load Speed
According to CropInk, 41% of users use ad blockers to increase the loading speed. This speaks volumes.
To tackle this issue, optimize your page load speed. Work on your Core Web Vitals to improve the website’s overall performance. Keep your ads lightweight so they don’t consume much of the user’s internet bandwidth.
Moreover, you can also implement lazy loading for your ads. Also, opt for lazy-loading ad formats to reduce the data load on the user and your server.
As publishers partner with multiple ad networks, ad exchanges, SSPs, and ad servers, it’s advisable to get professional ad ops expertise to complete the task efficiently.
Furthermore, publishers can take the help of open source services like Google Lighthouse to check the performance of their webpage.
3. Right to Choose
adChoice, an initiative by the IAB, gives users the ability to choose whether or not they want to see ads. Similarly, privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA allow users to choose whether or not they want to share their behavioral data with advertising companies.
Publishers, on their part, should ensure compliance with these policies and create a transparent environment by giving users the right to choose their online experience. Some publishers may worry that compliance will cost them a share of their ad revenue.
However, in the long run, this effort will favor publishers, as users trust them more because of the choice and transparency offered to them.
4. Opt for Native Advertising
Another option for you is to switch to native advertising. The native ads’ ability to blend with their surroundings makes them non-intrusive and a marketer-favorite. These ads also offer higher engagement rates than traditional ad formats, and they come off as more user-friendly.
Many native ads can also bypass ad blockers, which makes them ideal for ad revenue generation.
5. Ad Re-insertion
Ad re-insertion, or ad-clock circumvention, is a strategy publishers utilize to regain the lost revenue due to ad blockers. This is done by serving ads to users who have enabled ad blockers.
It encompasses two main strategies:
- Ad Recovery: Recovers and serves the blocked ad using an alternative server.
- Ad Replacement: Replace the original ad with a less intrusive alternative.
6. Subscriptions
You can also add subscription models like monthly or yearly subscriptions to provide users with an ad-free experience. However, you must be sure about this strategy as the percentage of users willing to pay to remove ads is in single digits (Forbes).
On top of it, you can explore other monetization options like affiliate marketing, data licensing, or posting sponsored content on your website.
4. Ad Blocker Recovery Solution
With the chunks of ad revenue lost due to Ad blockers, it has become increasingly imperative to provide publishers with the ad blocker recovery solution. The prime example is AdPushup AdBlock Recovery Solution; this pro-user AdBlock monetization solution blocks ads and helps web publishers recover the ad revenue they would have otherwise lost to ad-blocking extensions.
The AdPushup Adblock recovery solution also provides the following information:
- In-depth reporting and analytics about the blocked traffic
- Data such as total revenue recovered
- Ad blockers being used
- Browser-wise usage
- Country-wise usage is available at the click of a button
- Allow to set up and run A/B tests on ad layouts
- Adheres to the Acceptable Ads (AA) standard
- No delays in the ad serving
AdPushup AdBlock recovery solution runs something called an “acceptable ads” program where advertisers can have their ads whitelisted and displayed, provided they meet some predefined criteria such as ad placement, size, and distinction, and also provided they pay up.
Key Takeaways
What is an Ad Blocker: A software utilized by internet users to block ads from showing on the websites they are browsing.
Types of Ad Blockers: Browser extensions, built-in ad block tools, standalone applications, and DNS-based ad blocking.
Reasons to use Ad Blockers: To block intrusive ads, save device battery and data bandwidth, increase page load speed, and data privacy.
How Adblockers affect publishers: Revenue loss, broken website functionality, non-intrusive ads getting blocked.
How to Detect AdBlockers: The anti-adblock tool creates fake divs within the publisher’s website and checks whether the divs were blocked or not. If blocked, then the user has enabled ad blocker tools.
How to get Visitors Disable Ad Blockers: Display acceptable ads, request website whitelisting, be transparent about data collection policy, limit the access of the content.
What can Publishers do: Use thoughtful ad formats, optimize ad sizes and page load speed, opt for native advertising, using ad re-insertion software.
FAQs
An ad blocker is a software that blocks ads from displaying on a webpage. It identifies and blocks the script that the advertisers use to display ads on the user’s device.
Yes, ad blockers are highly effective in blocking intrusive ads. In general, ad blockers can effectively block pop up and pop under ads, tracking cookies, overlay ads, and auto-playing video ads with sound.
In an ad blocker, the contents of a web page are hidden or blocked by filtering rules. Ad blockers compare a website’s scripts with a list of sites and scripts they were built to block while it loads. It blocks them if it finds any.
Acceptable Ads are the best alternative to ad blockers and are more comprehensive than other options in this regard.
Yes, almost all ad blocker tools block pop up ads. Apart from that, ad blocker tools also block popunder ads, video ads, interstitial ads, and intrusive display ads.
