Ad Blocking Drives Need for Contextual Targeting
In “The Rise of Ad Blocking”, PageFair reports that the average ad blocking rate, across all the websites tested, was 22.7%. To have nearly a quarter of ad impressions blocked raises concern; the highest ad blocking rates were seen within the gaming and technology categories. This certainly makes sense, because it requires a certain know how to understand the software, let alone install a plug-in or add-on into a web browser, including non-default browsers on mobile devices like mobile Firefox.
I decided to experiment with the impact of AdBlock Plus, noted in the report as the most popular ad blocking software, to see if I can truly “Surf the Web without annoying ads,” as their tagline claims. I tested two of my personal favorite news hubs, Mashable and The Verge. I also tested the ad blocker to see if pre-roll video ads would be blocked on YouTube. The following screenshots speak for themselves.
Example of Ad Blocking on MASHABLE.COM
Full path URL: http://mashable.com/2013/09/10/hollow-flashlight/
Example ad blocking of Lenovo ad units and Facebook Connect and Twitter feed integrations on Mashable.com with AdBlock Plus for Firefox
AdBlock Plus reported the following technical details for the display ads blocked on Mashable:
Status: AdBlock Plus is enabled, 1 filter subscription(s) and 0 custom filter(s) in use.
Blocked items on this page: 13 out of 168 (also whitelisted: 8, hidden: 1)
Most Active Filters:
||mashable.com/tripleclick.html (12)
@@||gstatic.com^$third-party (8)
||ad.doubleclick.net^$~object-subrequest,third-party (1)
Example of Ad Blocking on THEVERGE.COM
Full path URL: http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/18/4747070/sony-plans-to-sell-five-million-ps4s-by-april-1st
Example ad blocking of Sprint and Arma 3 ad units on TheVerge.com with AdBlock Plus for Firefox
AdBlock Plus reported the following technical details for the display ads blocked on The Verge:
Status: AdBlock Plus is enabled, 1 filter subscription(s) and 0 custom filter(s) in use.
Blocked items on this page:
3 out of 137 (also whitelisted: 9, hidden: 2)
Most Active Filters:
@@||gstatic.com^$third-party (7)
@@||ox-d.sbnation.com/w/1.0/jstag| (2)
||ox-d.sbnation.com^ (2)
…
Examples of Ad Blocking on YOUTUBE.COM
Example ad blocking of a moto x ad unit on the YouTube homepage with AdBlock Plus for Firefox
Example ad blocking of pre-roll video and display ad unit for Cadillac on YouTube with AdBlock Plus for Firefox
Implications
Ad blocking software may be great for the end-user experience. It grants people the control they desire in order to consume what matters most – content – and with significantly reduced distractions. On the other hand, this threatens web-based businesses that rely heavily on advertising dollars. Numerous other factors can also come into play that can reduce the visibility of ad impressions, even if they are actually delivered.
For the middle men providing the technologies and platforms to deliver ads, the adoption of ad blocking software raises the accuracy bar pretty high. Target audiences become smaller and ads that are not blocked must be capitalized on by being extremely in-context with the content of a web page. Considering how dynamic most popular websites are now, with third-party feeds and other integrations, attaining a rapid snapshot of the types of content a web page is comprised of before a relevant and brand-safe ad is placed requires some pretty robust and rapid capabilities, like the zvelo categorization engine used by its ad tech customers. Accurate contextual targeting greatly increases relevancy, which should mitigate the need for ad blocking. After all, the pinnacle of marketing is serving the right offer to the right person at the right time. zvelo can help marketers do exactly that.
To read the full PageFair report, click here: The Rise of Adblocking.
