Blocking Ad-Blockers: A Game of Whack-a-Mole

Publishers are struggling to adapt their business model amid the proliferation of ad-blocking, a global trend up 41% YoY, per PageFair & Adobe’s annual report. Though motives vary across region, demographic, and device, people generally block ads to improve a site’s load-time, to ensure their information is private, and/or to ensure their browser remains secure. Whatever the reason, ad-blocking is not going away; it was front and center at this year’s Mobile World Conference and is estimated to cost the industry over $40B globally in 2016.

So what are publishers doing? The NYT is considering banning ad-blocking readers, Wired is charging ad-blockers $1/week, and some publishers are politely asking ad-blockers to white-list their site (these publishers saw an increase in ad-blocking rate). In short, it’s going to take some time to develop a comprehensive strategy.

As the industry grapples over how to govern this trend, we’re all missing the point. No matter how much we label ad-blockers as ungrateful gluttons of free content, the bottom line is that people block ads because of bad advertising. Last month, video ad tech company, Teads, surveyed 9,000 people and found that three out of four people were motivated to install ad blockers because of the intrusiveness of ads.

Unfortunately, the collateral damage from ad-blocking will include publishers, advertisers, and vendors that use display appropriately and effectively. Nonetheless, I welcome ad-blocking as a necessary re-balancing of power that will reward marketers that create content compelling enough to not be blocked, as well publishers that create an environment conducive to immersive content.

At LinkedIn, we are doubling down on native products to ensure our partners have a forum to engage with professionals in the most meaningful way possible. Last week, we announced the launch of LinkedIn Account Targeting to support the increasing number of marketers aligning their resources with their sales team, and will continue to enhance our products in a manner reciprocally valuable for our partners and members.

After every Sponsored Updates campaign, we calculate the amount of earned media generated through added-value likes, comments, shares, & follows. Essentially, it’s a measure of content virality. I’m fortunate to work with a group of technology marketers so focused on providing value that we commonly see 20, 30, or even 40% additional value driven from these free social actions. People don’t want to block a well-executed Sponsored Update; they want to share it.

This week the IAB released an Ad Blocking Primer which outlines tactics publishers should use to persuade users to stop deploying ad blockers. While I agree that this issue warrants extensive dialogue, I fear that any persuasion tactic will fall on deaf ears. Irresponsible ad-targeting has yielded frustrated consumers now empowered to turn ads off, and until we address the root issue, all attempts to “block the blockers” will be a game of whack-a-mole.

I look forward to continuing to work with LinkedIn partners to develop content that adds value to their brand, consumers, and our platform - and by doing so, help shift perception that ads are not only essential to a free and open internet, they should be relevant, engaging, and helpful.