Sure we block, but we feel really bad about it
Gladly, the company behind Goodblock, recently polled its users to ask whether they feel any guilt about using ad blockers. A whopping 77% of those polled said they feel “some guilt” about using the software. When asked if they’d whitelisted any websites to allow its ads through, again, 77% said they’d done so for at least one online publisher; 40% said they’d whitelisted at least five sites. “Of the top 20 websites whitelisted by Goodblock users, 8 prevented users from accessing their content unless they turned their ad blocker off and 7 asked users to support their site by turning ad blocking off.”
Read more at Gladly.io
Has Canada become an ad blocking cautionary tale?
PageFair’s latest study of ad blocking penetration has some big bullet points that marketers should pay attention to. Firstly, ad blocker usage increased 11% in 2016 to 220 million users worldwide. Secondly, next year’s jump is projected to be even greater, reaching 300 million users by Christmas 2017. And, thirdly and interestingly, PageFair holds up Canada as a “don’t let it get as bad as this” threshold for U.S. publishers. (More on PageFair’s report on Canadian ad blocking coming soon.)
Read more at Mashable
Millennials are crazy for ad blockers
Anatomy Media has released a study of 2,700 millennials between the ages of 18 and 24. It showed two in three millennials use ad blockers, and 43% of those who do so cite the reasons the industry has come to expect: avoiding intrusive ads and slowed browsing experiences. (The study also poked around online piracy and found 69% of respondents reported taking part in some kind of online content hijinks.)
Read more at BroadcastingCable.com
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