Counter Measures Against Budding Concern of Ad Blocking

What is ad blocking?

Purpose of ad blocking: the main purpose of ad blocking technologies is to interrupt online ads on desktop and phone apps from being displayed. The technologies behind adblock efficiently make users unreachable to online advertisers, so they do not receive any pop-ups; banner, large sticky and prestitial ads; online video; re-targeting etc. Ad blocking software doesn’t block anything by default and it can target not only display online ads but kind of video and native ads too. The vast issue surrounding ad blocking is not of necessity how it affects small businesses or even consumers, but how it affects publishers and therefore, access to the web.

Adblock options range from browser add-ons to various applications. Online advertisers are anxious to find a solution that reducesAdblock impacts on marketing, as well as ad Publishers seeks crushing them with any possible solution. Advertisers only pay for online advertisements that have been served. Publishers don’t get paid for the advertisements until they appear on desktop or mobile device. Every time your online ad interacts with Ad Block without being protected by a sustainable solution, you lose one opportunity for your ad to be seen by an end user, advertisers will find another ad impressions against which to serve the same.

How does ad blocking work?

Understanding how ad block works is important to help you choose the best solution for your website or phone app. Ad blocking software works at various levels and is commonly called as an ‘ad blocker’ which is a piece of software that usually comes as a browser extension or an app which can be downloaded by consumers in order to remove ads. It is usually installed as an adblock extension or adblock plugin into a browser like Mozilla Firefox and Google chrome. These browsers have thousands of extensions. They have been since 2002 and 2008 respectively. Microsoft edge has 23 extensions. Ad block extensions work inside a web browser and block ads on web pages which are being visited in the browser they are installed in. These extensions are to be installed for each browser you’re using.

• Black List: Regardless of the names of the extensions, most of them rely on a black list and a filter to block the URL of the ad providers to your website before the online ads appear on the browser. This starts by their efforts to include a large data in their black lists about online ads and the URLs of ad providers. Then, at the moment an ad provider sends the ad to your page, the filter blocks the ad provider’s URL instantly. Namely, online Ad Block simply blocks the connections between your website or phone app with the ad provider’s URL, and instead, it replaces the online ads with a blank space. Ad blockers use effectively pre-determined blacklists to identify which types of ads are blocked and which publishers are affected.
• Blocking Ad Placement: Websites have dedicated spaces for the component of online. Ads, which seem like ad containers hidden within the site, and are called Ad Placements. Ad Placements tend to have certain names and tags which make them easily predictable and detectable by Ad blockers so they can hide their online ad component. More troubling, with this method, ad blocker software mistakenly block other non- ad components of your website or app.

The web address URLs which load the ad requests and their file names tend to have certain parts that are consistent and predictable. Those are targeted and blocked by ad blockers to not load.

• Blocking Anti Ad Blocking scripts: A third method is blocking tracking scripts which in turn prevent third-party ad networks from serving advertisements. Ad blocking software is mostly configurable by the user. Hence, anyone can white-list a site they support or blacklist a site that isn’t on the default list.
• Using anti adblock killer: This extension allows to keep Adblock software active, when you visit a website which has scripts or other countermeasures set up to block access and it asks you to disable. It essentially trickswebsites into thinking that you aren't running ad-block at all times. Through anti Adblock killer, ads will be blocked on more than 99% of websites that ask to disable the adblock tool thereby removing annoying and sometimes horrifying ads such as pop up or pop under ads.

They can’t block all type of ads. Most in-app, in-feed native ads tend not to be picked up by ad blockers, as most ad blocking software intercepts calls from third-party ad servers. However, in-app advertising could also be affected with the emergence of mobile ad blocking companies which operate at the mobile network level; in-app advertising could also be affected.

Causes ad blocking

People use ad blockers due to obnoxious, offensive, loathsome and extremely excessive advertisements and use of heavy JavaScript codes that can slow down a device. Sometimes online ads take over the whole screen and have a tiny close in a random place along the edge of an advertisement. Websites are being developed around the ads to pull in an ungodly amount of online ad views instead of the content and to distribute malware via ads leading to poor user experiences. Some online ads also cause security challenges as they are served by third party sites whose authenticity might be questionable and in many cases, it’s a lot of intrusive and sheer amount of them is overwhelming. According to Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK, "The primary motivation for blocking ads was that they interrupt what people are doing." Other reasons for ad blocking in this survey showed that people think ads slow down the web experience, and that digital ads are not perceived to be relevant to the individual.

Ad formats have been grown to the height of unwelcoming with things such as video which appears instantly in between the paragraphs or in the middle of web pages which infuriate exasperate users and disrupt the content from being viewed which leave adverse impact on advertisers and publishers. For that, people do use ad blockers for improved privacy, for more protection against malware, faster loading websites, for saving data on limited connections, for insulating themselves against a relentless barrage of advertising while browsing the web and for having streamlined and safe internet experience.

Repercussions of ad blocking

Ad blocking is not a long term internet-friendly solution. Ad blockers block pop-ups; banner, large sticky and prestitial ads thereby hurting the site revenue which discourages publishers to create freely accessible content. The impact can also have repercussions for hundreds of authors, bloggers, journalists, columnists, content creators, researchers and editors, who earn from the online content industry by providing insightful ideas and knowledge. It’s the revenues of ads that pay them. There are many cases where million-dollar businesses shake hands with popular ad blocker companies for getting their sites white-listed which allow ads to appear in order the user to support the channel by giving view time to ads. Small online ad publishers might not have that bandwidth hence they keep to take the hit with eventual results of being shut down. Therefore, blocking may result in an uneven field of competition in these cases. The impact of ad blocking is affecting online ad publishers earning through cost per click (CPC) based advertisements and ad impressions (CPM) suffer from revenue losses. These impressions translate into money which is paid to authors, bloggers, journalists, columnists, content creators, researchers, editors and to itself if presumably they have any profits left. Each time an advertisement is displayed on the screen, it is counted as an ad impression. According to HubSpot Product Manager Lars Osterberg, "Google Adwords ads are often whitelisted by default by many popular ad blockers since they're seen to be useful."

Due to proliferation and strengthening of ad blocking technologies, the online advertising is no longer a viable solution for profiting revenue. In accordance with Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK study, "56% of respondents were not even aware that blocking ads meant that websites would lose revenue."According to PageFair, adblock usage is driven by specific problems with the delivery of online advertising and is not a rejection of digital advertising itself. Many critics of have argued that by viewing online content, users enter into an ‘implied moral contract’ with the publisher in which by agreeing to view the content, user is also agreeing to view the advertisement that pays for it according to eavi. Blocking ads limits the ability of internet users to explore and get to know new things though they amenities the users to choose what to accept as users might filtered away with them. Actually not all users find ads as annoying or waste of their time. Many advertisements are informative and have insightful knowledge with which users can get to know about new things. Another drawback of ad blocking is that if online ads don’t get downloaded, the publishers won’t be able to determine how much money they should make from their advertisement.Forbes said, "The escalating battle between ad-dependent publishers and ad blocking has a new front."

Counter-measures against ad blocking

Ad blocking is an internationally proliferating issue requiring a cross industry global approach. Some publishers have opted to employ software which detects ad blockers as a way to communicate with consumers about the effects of using ad blocking software, which prompts consumers to unblock in order to access content. Another option some publishers are trialing is to redirect users to a subscription or donation page.

Adblock detection: Itis the observed action of the script that detects whether the user is using ad blocking software when any website is being viewedAdblock detection works by putting bail content within the website pages and performs a range of tests to identify if the content is still visible. The ad blocking detector code checks the properties of bail content which is being implemented and identifies whether the content is visible. Although invisible to the user, this bait content is implemented so as to appear to ad blockers as advertising content. After the web page has finished loading, the detection code checks the properties of the bait content to ascertain whether it is still visible. The detection code knows that an ad blocker is active if the bail content has been hidden.Then the code will give a message to the browser’s JavaScript console to indicate whether an ad blocker has been detected.

Anti adblocking software: Anti ad blocking technologies are stepping into anti ad blocking software which is designed to counteract the effects of ad blocking. Anti ad blocking software has Anti adblock scripts which do not report specifically which ad blocking plugins are installed on a user’s system but report what users have installed on their systems. Adblock scripts guess based on the performance of a user’s browser. Those guesses are made by using the same standard JavaScript functionality that is used by millions of websites which don’t detect Adblock JavaScript. Anti adblock scripts do not require persistent storage or installation on a users’ system to function. JavaScript feature detection is a vital part of most modern web pages. JavaScript knows only what it is permitted to know by the browser. JavaScript can’t give information whether the user is blocking ads or not. It knows only what is allowed to know by the browser.

The only exception is known so far to push anti ad block scripts to new boundaries, comes from AdzSafe, where the anti adblock script automatically disables adblocker software once it is dedicated. Unsurprisingly, this is the main reason that many online ad publishers already abandoned the traditional ad block walls, to use AdzSafe trend. Correctly, the goal is not only to detect adblockers, but to stop them completely from interfering with online ads. Counter adblocking software also exists, in the form of companies such as AdDefend. It effectively reverses the internet user’s choice to opt out of ads thereby replace the ad by circumventing the ad blocker.

The battle of publishers vs. ad blockers is a long-term problem as ad blockers have been improving and publishers have been responding in kind. Advertisers and publishers will be forced to find new ways to reach their targeted customers and to make up their loss in revenues as adblock usage is increasing as a response to privacy concerns and advertising overload. Ad blockers could cost an estimated 21.8 billion dollars of loss in revenue a year according to BBC. According to one survey of Forbes, 81.7% of users would disable ad blocker under some set of conditions. In which 44.5% of them said they would disable ad blocker then and there, while 22.3% of them said they would disable ad blocker as long as annoying ads weren't shown. And 14.9% said they would disable ad blocker if the ads were relevant to the content.Only 16.9% said they'd never disable their ad blocker. That is promising and it shows clearly that there's a path forwards. Global economic costs of the ad blocking trend are going to continue to rise in 2017, but there are few popular ad blocking solutions such as Ad block wall, paywall and AdzSafe. In addition to this, there are some more ad blocking solutions which are PageFair, Adrecover, Sourcepoint, Secret media, Imonomy and Never block. These solutions enable a publisher to decide how to present a message to a web visitor who has an ad blocker installed.

• AdzSafe: when it is compared to the current available methods and solutions, AdzSafe proved itself as the only effective and reliable ad blocking solution that fully and instantly disable ad blocker software from operating in the browser. It does so without asking ad publishers to replace their online Ad providers with a different one, like other anti ad block methods require. AdzSafe allows online ads to be loaded and be seen, regardless if the visitor’s browser includes an ad blocker or not. It squashes the ad blockers completely from interfering with online ads. It ceases the ad revenue losses. When AdzSafedisables ad block instantly, it simple supported Ads safely loaded and viewed without interference by Ad Blockers and turns bare and fragile online ad into an ironclad online ad.
• Ad block walls: It amenities for hiding your website contents or minimizing functions or services and demanding from visitors to first disable the ad blocker in their browsers. A stronger step some publishers are taking is to set up ad block walls. These walls notify users that unless they do whitelist the site.
• Paywall: It amenities for paid subscription to view your content and providestrusted insights and markets coverage. It helps to manage, sell and protect online content, products and services by premium subscription.
• PageFair: It is an authorized analytic tool that helps publishers to measure adblock.It understands the way to make a difference by listening everyone’s needs and find win-win solutions thereby helping publishers to improve the ad blocking issues. As a result, advertisers don’t have as much competition on each page and users have less clutter. In addition to this, PageFair enables them to use first party data and create a premium sector for readers who are willing to pay for content.
• Adrecover: It helps to measure and monetize ad impressions being lost to adblocking. It helps to display fast-loading UX-compliant ads to your website's adblock user traffic.It strictly adheres to very high UX standards for ensuring that the ads are visitor-friendly and not obtrusive in anyway. It keeps a constant check on the ad media, with a zero-tolerance policy.
• Imonomy: It amenities for effective monetizing platform, provide viewable ads and enhances user’s experience. It offers mobile-friendly in-image ads that ensure a great user experience for readers. It uses big data, plus contextual and behavioral analysis for ensuring that all the ads being served are relevant to their users.
• Secret media: It helps the premium publishers to develop a better user experience around the ads.It restores blocked ad impressions, especially video ad impressions, and offers analytics that help publishers to manage the rise of ad blocking.
• Sourcepoint: It creates compensation choice for publishers and consumers. It provides the data needed to make informed decisions about content compensation. It helps publishers to activate messages to give clarification about value exchange when people consume content, and it offers the multiple options for the consumers for paying for the content they want whether prefers a free, ad-based experience, or another way to compensate the publisher.
• a href="https://www.neverblock.com/#home">Never block

: It is a proven circumventing ad blocking solution that maximizes revenues instantly. It bypasses ad blockers to recapture all your ad revenue losses and works on all browsers and on all platforms and devices. It places a line of code on website thereby ensuring that advertisements still get shown even if a user has ad blocking software installed and switched on.

Myself Charles Smith. I love writing articles and blogs. Here I am writing about publishers major concern, ad blocking. Have a look at www.adzsafe.com for getting the best ad blocking solution.