Since Apple introduced support for adblockers on iOS 9, more users have become aware of the impact ads have on the browsing experience. But are online ads really the enemy?
To Chad Russell, creator of AdTrap, a piece of hardware that connects to a user’s internet modem to block online ads, they could very well be vermins.
“They’ve crept into everything – mobile phones, tablets, social platforms. What’s next, the car?,” he said to Digiday in 2014.
While iOS 9 brought more attention to online ads and ad blocking technologies, the disdain for ad blockers dates further back.
As of June 2014, a Pagefair report conducted in partnership with Adobe found that there are 144 million active adblock users around the world. Most users of ad blocking software (or hardware like AdTrap) are millennials – 41% of the 18 – 29 demographic said they use adblocks.
Online ads really can be a pain, especially with interstitials and intrusive popovers that disrupt the reading experience on news sites. They have also been known to increase the amount of data used, page load times, as well as the processor resource used by phones to browse the internet, which also strains the phone’s battery. Users who have installed ad-blockers claim to have noticed up to 4 times increase in page load times and a 50% drop in the amount of data used while browsing the internet.
Beside the strain on data and processor, the tracking that accompanies online ads also raises question around data privacy on the internet. “Users’ information is routinely being shipped off to third parties without users’ control or knowledge. You’re swapping your privacy and your information,” says Chad Russel.
The impact of blocking ads on the internet is however notable. Internet’s most popular business model is ads and cutting those out effectively cuts out revenue for content websites.
“The internet is built on advertising. It’s the best revenue stream it currently has,” says Andrew Taylor on removeadblock.com, an anti-ad blocking campaign website started by websites that rely on online ads to pay their bills. Ad blocking could cut out revenue for content websites to the tune of $21 billion this year, according to a more recent PageFair report.
The impact of adblockers could be devastating to the web and content online. “If advertisements disappeared from all sites today, this is what would become of the web. Most sites would have to rely on subscriptions, a revenue model that would only encourage consolidation. The rest of the web would devolve into iReports – an incoherent, amateur, and uninspired sprawl,” says Matt Smith on the same website.
Since ad blocking became popular, campaigns like removeadblock.com have attempted to keep visitors from installing ad blockers. Some publishers have put up appeals on their homepages for users to consider donating to the website in order to keep them in business.
The ethics of ad blocking is a continuous conversation. When Apple began to support adblocking on iOS, one of the earlier adblocking software that went up on the Apple’s iTunes was Peace. Few days after it became the top grossing app on the store, the creator, Marco Arment pulled the app claiming he was conflicted about it. “[It] just doesn’t feel good,” he commented then about the success of the app.
“Ad blockers come with an important asterisk,” Arment told Guardian news, “while they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit. Peace required that all ads be treated the same – all-or-nothing enforcement for decisions that aren’t black and white … If we’re going to effect positive change overall, a more nuanced, complex approach is required than what I can bring in a simple iOS app.”
A more nuanced approach like Marco mentioned is needed to come about an internet that is beneficial to all actors.
Photo Credit: Creative April via Compfight cc
