The publisher's response to ad blocking - WTF Ad Blocking UK, 3/10/16
Transcript of The publisher's response to ad blocking - WTF Ad Blocking UK, 3/10/16
March 2016
Daniel Powell-Rees – Director of Revenue Operations
THE PUBLISHER’S RESPONSE TO AD BLOCKING
ANY QUESTIONS?
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THE
5 STAGES OF PUBLISHER RESPONSE
DENIAL – AD BLOCKING IS NOT NEW 5
DENIAL ALLOWED AD BLOCKERS TO GROW UNCHALLENGED 6
ANGER – WE ARE LOSING MONEY 7
“We receive some donations from our users, but our main source of revenue comes as part of the Acceptable Ads initiative. Larger entities pay a licensing fee for the whitelisting services ”
But
“Adblock Plus users have the option to display ads that are on the Acceptable Ads list or to disable the Acceptable Ads feature and browse completely ad-free.”
ANGER - ACCEPTABLE ADS POLICY 8
"Ad blocking is robbery, plain and simple — an extortionist scheme that exploits consumer disaffection and risks distorting the economics of democratic capitalism," Interactive Advertising Bureau President and CEO Randall Rothenberg
Robbery
Extortion
Bribery
ANGER – SUING THE AD BLOCKER 9
German broadcasters RTL, ProSiebenSat1, Zeit Online GmbH, Handelsblatt, Axel Springer have all sued ad block plus.
ANGER – “CONSUMER CHOICE” 10
Ad blocker Shine blocks advertising at the source diverting revenue away from publishers and into mobile phone carriers.
Got to love the Irony
BARGAINING – AD BLOCKERS 11
Over 700 companies have paid the bribe Acceptable Ads Program
BARGAINING – WITH THE USER 12
DEPRESSION – NO ONE WINS AN ARMS RACE 13
DEPRESSION – AD BLOCKERS ARE HERE TO STAY 14
ACCEPTANCE – SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG 15
“We messed up. As technologists, tasked with delivering content and services to users, we lost track of the user experience.” Scott Cunningham, senior VP-technology and ad operations at the IAB
ACCEPTANCE – SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG 16
Those two words every publisher loves whispered in their ear
“incremental revenue”
ACCEPTANCE – SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG 17
“If you walk into any publishing house and say, ‘I’ve got a way you can make incremental revenue, here is a piece of Javascript that will allow you to do it,’ that will go up immediately. We need to put the user back into the equation,” Ashwin Sridhar, global head of digital products revenue at The Economist
ACCEPTANCE – IDENTIFYING THE REAL ISSUE 18
Ad blocking is a symptom, not a disease
ACCEPTANCE – ADS ARE ANNOYING 19
MOVING FORWARD? 20
1. Understand your users!
2. Say no to, and get rid of annoying advertising
3. Educate consumers & give them a choice
SOLVE THE ISSUE FIRST 21
Unless we can show our users that we have heard their concerns, ad blockers will continue to grow
Native/Content marketing provides a less noisy experience
Standardise and engage consumers in defining acceptable ads
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EDUCATE YOUR CONSUMERS WITH CHOICE
There is no one size fits all solution
KEY TAKE-AWAYS 23
1. Ad blocking is a symptom, not a disease!
2. Solve the issue first
3. Consumer education is key
ANY QUESTIONS?
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