4 Charts That Show Ad Blocking Is No Passing Fad

Ads are generally viewed with disdain, and those featured on websites are often particularly treated as pesky. That is why so many people now are using web browser add ons, which are designed to block ads from appearing when they visit websites.

From a user’s perspective, the appeal is obvious — ad skippers offer stress-free browsing. While from the publishers’ perspective, actively filtering ads from websites is stealing. Whichever side of the debate you may fall on doesn’t change a fact.

The global number of monthly ad blocker-tool users has climbed to 144 million in 2014 from 21 million in 2010. Adblock Plus claims to have had 300 million downloads to date with 50 million active users. A German court ruled on Wednesday that making software available to block advertising online is completely legal, a second legal challenge that arrived at the exact same conclusion.

It’s pretty set on the end of the world. Ad blocking is legal and it’s no passing fad. With its unstoppable acceptance and growth, I guess the only square left is to move on and start thinking of new business models that can work around its presence.

If you don’t agree with me, Ricardo Bilton has 4 proofs below to show how ad blockers are beginning to build a new place for themselves in the web space, actively confronting challenges and creating a new digital culture that would exert enormous influence in the decades to come — whether you like it or not.

Interest in ad blocking is on the rise

One clear sign that there’s more interest in ad blocking is just how many people are searching for them. Consider, for example, the increase in the number of Google searches for “ad block,” “adblock plus” and “ad blocker.” Searches for all three have climbed steadily over the last few years, particularly between 2013 and 2014.

…and so are the downloads.

Interest in ad blocking correlates with an increase in usage numbers. The global number of monthly ad blocker-tool users has climbed to 144 million in 2014 from 21 million in 2010 as more people start using tools like Adblock Plus and Adblock Edge, according to data from PageFair, a company that measures publishers’ ad blocking rates. AdBlock Plus, the most popular of the tools, says it has averaged 2.3 million downloads a week since 2013.

Gaming sites are feeling the burn

While ad blocking is an increasingly pressing concern for all publishers, it’s not affecting them all to the same extent. On the typical gaming site, for example, ad blocking rates top 50 percent, while those for fashion and lifestyle sites typically are closer to 35 percent, according to Secret Media, which gives publishers tools to circumvent ad blocking. (It should be noted that Secret Media, like PageFair, has a vested interest in making the ad blocking problem seem larger rather than smaller.)

The disparity makes sense if you consider who’s going to these verticals. Typical readers for a gaming site, for example, are young, male and tech-literate, making them far more likely to use ad blockers.

Ad blocking is a bigger issue for European publishers

Ad blocking rates also vary from country to country. While ad blocking rates are closer to 15 percent in the U.S., they top 30 percent in the likes of Poland, Finland and Sweden. Germany, another country with a high ad blocking rate, has become ground zero for the battle between ad blocking and the publishers which want to see it go away. The owners of Germany’s Die Zeit and Handelsblatt sued AdBlock Plus owner Eyeo GmbH, claiming that the tool is “illegal and anti-competitive.” German courts, however, have ruled in Eyeo’s favor. }

“I personally suspect that in some of these countries, citizens are more concerned about their personal privacy, perhaps for historical reasons,” said PageFair CEO Sean Blanchfield.

Read original article on Digiday, here.