Reports: adblocking

As we correctly predicted, 2016 was the year video ate the world. 2017 is going to be shaped by the battle for consumer attention through formatting and distribution wars. VR is likely to cede further ground to AR, bots will become established, while messaging apps add to their dominant position (even though user growth will slow).

In the old world, there were clear demarcations between media types, bordered with proprietary media and playback devices. However, different entertainment forms now exist in more interdependent ecosystems than they did in the analogue era, with all-in-one app stores blurring the boundaries and turning media consumption into an amorphous whole where content types compete directly with each another for both time and money.

Adblocking is arguably the single biggest disruptive threat digital media businesses have faced. But it is the users of adblockers and their motivations rather than the technology itself that matter most. Adblocker users comprise a segment that advertisers are no longer reaching online and on mobile.

This is the second report in the MIDiA Adblocking report series. Adblocking is gaining consumer momentum in terms of both awareness and adoption, which is in turn testing the effectiveness of publishers’ responses. Many of the tactics deployed help slow some of the short-term revenue loss, but do little to address the longer-term situation.

The desktop right now is undoubtedly where there is the most lost ad revenue due to adblocking. Adblocking on mobile may currently be smaller but this should not be an excuse for complacency and allowing the problem to acquire desktop adblocking proportions before serious notice is taken.