Fixing Adblocking

The adblocking issue doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. You can always tell when a subject is discussed at numerous conferences that it’s becoming a part of the furniture. Talking about it is so much easier than fixing it.

Adblocking is not really a technology matter, even though even the most ardent fans of automated everything would accept that slavishly following a path along which algorithms decide everything connected with ad placements has had a great deal to do with us being where we are today.

At its heart though adblocking is a human issue, in that consumers are actively doing something to stop being bugged by ads. Bots are believed not to be too bothered by the quality of the ads.

It should be addressed (indeed in many cases it is being addressed) by those carrying the ads that consumers find so irritating. Certainly that’s a better alternative than the imposition of any sort of legislative solution.

Media owners have always operated a form of ad control. You cannot after all run anything the Editor finds unacceptable within his print title.

Transport for London (TfL) stops ads featuring any image they deem to be offensive from appearing on buses and underground stations/trains.

TV has a whole regulatory system to weed out ads that are likely to offend.

Adblockers are having the impact they are not because everyone hates all ads, but because enough people find the worst kind of ads intrusive and irrelevant. These ads add no value; in fact they do the opposite by stopping you doing what you came online to do.

Plus in the case of mobile they use up large chunks of data plans and drain batteries.

On the basis that the best way to eat an elephant is one small bite at a time it might be worthwhile starting the search for a solution with mobile. …

… read on at bjanda.com

Originally posted by Brian Jacobs on The Cog Blog at BJ&A on 17th March 2016