Yahoo is testing a new function on its Yahoo Mail service that prevents users who have ad blockers installed from accessing their mail.
Users first reported on the Ad Block Plus forums on Thursday that when they tried to access their mail, they were redirected to a page asking them to turn off their ad blocker. In an statement, Yahoo said it is “continually developing and testing new product experiences. This is a test we’re running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users in the U.S.”
Anti-blocking applications are gaining traction with publishers that stand to lose out on major ad revenues from blocked ads. The Washington Post, for example, recently added a redirect for users with ad block installed. Ad-supported streaming services have also been quick to adopt them to ensure that they don’t lose out on high-value pre-roll inventory.
However, Yahoo is the first to try the same tactic with an email client. And so far, it hasn’t gone very well.
So @YahooMail has blocked my inbox for using an ad blocker. It was a good run, I guess. Goodbye! Hello Apple Mail, as much as I hate it.
— Andrei Herasimchuk (@Trenti) November 19, 2015
Hey @Yahoo my grandpa called from afterlife. He wants to read his mail. Stop doing this https://t.co/6TiFZPT4RD
— Rutwij Devashrayee (@rutwij) November 20, 2015
Yahoo’s ad business is on uneven footing. Although its search and display revenue continue to grow, it’s had to pay more and more to partners like Microsoft and Google to acquire traffic on its sites. Ads on Yahoo’s mail client — the eighth-most used email client according to Litmus Email Analytics — provide revenue Yahoo sorely needs to bring about its promised turnaround.
Other ad-supported mail clients like Gmail are not under as much pressure to disable ad blockers, since several of them pay to have their sites whitelisted by ad blockers.
Ad block users have already come up with a handful of workarounds to suppress Yahoo’s anti-blocking protocol, but some sites like Wired have found that even a gentle request to turn off ad blocking can be effective with most users.
Adobe and non-profit anti-ad blocking advocacy group PageFair estimate that 6.5 million Canadians, or around 20% of the online population, use ad blockers.
