The advertising industry is rightly concerned about the financial impact related to consumers growing use of ad blockers, which can filter out ads before users ever see them. A recent study by OnAudience.com highlights the reasons why:
- 26% of U.S. consumers now use ad blockers, resulting in lost publisher revenues of $15.8 billion in 2016, up from $11.0 billion in 2015. The U.S. represents approximately $45 billion of the $100 billion global display market.
- Internationally, the loss of publisher revenue from ad blocking is projected to rise to $42 billion, up from $28 billion in 2016.
In addition, Google has announced that the 2018 version of its Chrome web browser will allow consumers to automatically block “annoying, intrusive” ads, which will accelerate the financial impact of this trend given that Chrome represents approximately 60% of the desktop/mobile/tablet browser market (source: NETMARKETSHARE, September 2017). Google’s motivation, it claims, is that they are simply introducing the Coalition for Better Ads recently announced best practices standards to enhance the consumer’s web browsing experience.
It is no surprise how we got where we are. Advertisers wanted to improve consumer engagement and publishers wanted to drive revenues. This, in turn, led to publishers placing more ads on a web page, including higher paying video units, making ads larger or forcing visitors to somehow interact with these ads to get to the content. This involves video ads that automatically refresh or blast audio automatically or force consumers to wait for :05 to :10 seconds before they can access the content they seek.
In the end, advertisers and publishers have not realized greater levels of engagement, but rather helped to fuel greater levels of consumer irritation and therefore ad blocker usage.
Thus far, the industry has been focused on blocking the ad blockers. It is true that many publishers believe that being exposed to ads is a user’s obligation if they want their content to be free. Others, however, share the consumer’s disdain for obnoxious, intrusive ads, and would like to see them banned from their sites. The problem is that ad blockers tend to block all ads.
So what is the ad industry to do? Busting the use of ad blockers or implementing web browser workarounds would appear to be somewhat short-sighted. Consumers have clearly signaled that they find the level, number, positioning and type of online ads served to them on a regular basis to be discordant with their intended browsing habits. Pursuing a more measured approach on the part of the industry is warranted. As Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg intoned:
“Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
The challenge is clear, finding a mechanism for publishers to fund their content creation at least in part through the use of online advertising. The answer, however, is not so readily apparent.
Let’s face it, by in large, consumers do not want to view online advertising. This can be evidenced by plummeting open and click-through rates, reductions in conversion rates and declines in average viewing times. Advertisers and publishers want “engagement” and sadly, consumers want nothing to do with most of the advertising foisted on them.
Is the answer better creative that informs, educates and entertains in the hope that users will both notice the ads and choose to interact with them? Or is it fewer, less intrusive ads that can take away from a user’s web browsing experience? Or will publishers finally have to solve the “pay to view” content dilemma, which consumers have largely been resistant to thus far?
If consumer engagement is the goal, the answer is likely “Yes” to all of the above.