Monday 5 October 15

Dr. Johnny Ryan / johnny@pagefair.com

HOW AD BLOCKING

WORKSMonday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad server

Monday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad server

Monday 5 October 15

Advertisements

Adve

rtise

men

t

Web server

Ad server

Monday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad server

Ad blocking active

Monday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad server

Ad blocking active

Monday 5 October 15

Advertisement

Adve

rtise

men

t

Web server

Ad server

Ad blocking active

Monday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad blocking active

Monday 5 October 15

Web server

Ad blocking active

Monday 5 October 15

Numbers

Monday 5 October 15

10%Average for news:

(much higher for video)

Monday 5 October 15

200 M

100 M

mid 2009 mid 2011 mid 2013 mid 2015

50 M

Count of global ad block users

Monday 5 October 15

80%learn about ad blocking from friends / web / social media

Monday 5 October 15

EU:

IE18%

GB20% DK

23%

DE25%

NL14%

BE12%

FR10%ES

16%

PT21%

CH11%

PL35%

LT19%

LV15%

EE25%

FI19%

SE25%

IT13%

HR19%

RO18% BG

16%

SK9%

CZ11%

HU23%

SI20%

GR38%AT

21%

10-38%

Monday 5 October 15

Mobile<3% in the West

Monday 5 October 15

Asian mobile browsers

with blocking on by default

Monday 5 October 15

Maxthon

ver 4.4.4.2000 (Feb. 2015)

UC BrowserOwned by Alibaba

ver 9.9.2 (Aug. 2014)

264 millioninstalls

120 millioninstalls

Monday 5 October 15

Firefox Mobile

Monday 5 October 15

16% of Firefox Mobileusers were blocking ads(at endQ2 2015)

Monday 5 October 15

Who is blockingads?

Monday 5 October 15

18-29 30-44 45-60 >60AgeMonday 5 October 15

Why people block•Ads obscure content.•Privacy. •Bandwidth.•Slow website load. •Because they can.

Monday 5 October 15

The big picture

Monday 5 October 15

The need to monetize has led to unrestrained

advertising.1

Monday 5 October 15

The need to monetize has led to unrestrained

advertising.

Increase in ad volume and page clutter.Increase in experience interruption.

Increase in data snooping.

2

1

Monday 5 October 15

The need to monetize has led to unrestrained

advertising.

Increase in ad volume and page clutter.Increase in experience interruption.

Increase in data snooping.

Decline in audience goodwill, Decline in attention to ads, Decline in trust.

2

1 3

Monday 5 October 15

The need to monetize has led to unrestrained

advertising.

Increase in ad volume and page clutter.Increase in experience interruption.

Increase in data snooping.

Decline in audience goodwill, Decline in attention to ads, Decline in trust.

Advertising blocking by users

2

1 3

4

Monday 5 October 15

Strategy

Monday 5 October 15

Ask nicely<1% conversion rate

3 strategies that failed:

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Ask firmlyThis only work for publishers of exclusive long-form content (e.g. TV series)

Ask nicely<1% conversion rate

3 strategies that failed:

Monday 5 October 15

Ask firmlyThis only work for publishers of exclusive long-form content (e.g. TV series)

Ask nicely<1% conversion rate

Trench warfare/cat & mouseAd blockers retaliate and block all javascript on site

3 strategies that failed:

Monday 5 October 15

i. Avoid trench warfare, ii. put back ads,but iii. make sure people do not rebel

against those ads.

Monday 5 October 15

We need to end the cycle

We can serve ads to them,but... what should we serve?

We do not want to put backthe ads they have already rebelled against

i. Avoid trench warfare, ii. put back ads,but iii. make sure people do not rebel

against those ads.

Monday 5 October 15

0%

30%

60%

Popover Video non-skippable mid-roll

Display with audio

Video non-skippable

pre-roll

Interstitial Animated display

Video skippable mid-roll

Video skippable

pre-roll

Still image Text display

% of people who do block ads who expressed some willingness to view ads

Monday 5 October 15

Principles needed For the ad-blocking audience.

Monday 5 October 15

ADVERTISING 2.0

Monday 5 October 15

Monday 5 October 15

1. Publishers - not advertisers - feelthe pain

Summary

Monday 5 October 15

1. Publishers - not advertisers - feel the pain 2. Ad blocking driven by bad ads

Summary

Monday 5 October 15

1. Publishers - not advertisers - feelthe pain 2. Ad blocking driven by bad ads3. We can put ads back

Summary

Monday 5 October 15

1. Publishers - not advertisers - feelthe pain 2. Ad blocking driven by bad ads3. We can put ads back4. ...but publishers must decidewhat ads to show people who block

Summary

Monday 5 October 15