How can I miss you when you don’t go away? Digital Advertising in an Ad Blocker age

Block me

ADBlock Plus, a cross-platform ad blocking software, fancies itself to be an easy to use addition to the web browser Firefox.  While it was not the only ad blocker on the market, It provided a comprehensive ad blocking service, and it worked…  Boy did it work.  However, while ad blockers have become an effective way for the average consumer to save time, bandwidth, and annoying intrusive banners, it has also become a way for juggernaut advertisers to easily break through these barriers while those with less money and influence lose revenue.  The little guy, the one that was barely making a living on the meager revenue of accidental clicks, lost a good portion of that revenue.

In 2014, It was estimated that Ad blockers were already being used by 45 million people in the United States.  So, it is safe to say that in 2016 Ad Blockers had the capacity to ruin the $1 Billion dollars worth of presidential ads that showered the masses this year.  Now, even mobile devices have apps that are capable of blocking ads.  But there is a problem in this ad-free bliss utopia that  has been created…  Ad blocking companies themselves are starting to sell ads that are immune to “the block”.  Dirty Poker?  Maybe.  But media providers have always used their power to pick and choose what and who they run the ads for.

So don’t be surprised if you see some of your most annoying ads pop through your blockers.  How can we miss them if they don’t go away?

References:

Kerstetter, J. (2016). Facebook blocks the ad blockers. New York: New York Times Company.

Young, J. (2016). Meet the blockers: A quantitative analysis of ad blocker usage

Montelarro, Z. (2016, November 9). Is Ad Blocker Going to Ruin $1 Billion Worth of Presidential Campaign Ads? Retrieved November 21, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/is-ad-blocker-going-to-ruin-1-billion-worth-of-presidential-campaign-ads/450945/

Blanchfield, S. (2014, September 9). 2014 Report – Adblocking Goes Mainstream. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from https://pagefair.com/blog/2014/adblocking-report/