If Ad Blocking is a Marketer’s Poison, What’s the Cure?

There are lots of mixed feelings about ad blocking and each player feels strongly about how ad blocking will change the internet as we know it. Publishers, audiences and advertisers each view the impact of ad blocking very differently since the purpose of the internet varies for each. The publisher wants ad revenue to cover expenses and publish content freely on the internet; the audience wants the content/entertainment without ad interruptions/intrusions and the advertisers needs to share their messages/brands with the audiences on the internet so they can increase sales and market share.

The shocker really is that ad blocking software seems to be far more common than I thought. According to PageFair in “The 2015 Ad Blocking Report”, there are nearly 200 million monthly active users of ad blocking software globally. Technology has made it easy for audiences to omit television ads and opt for the digital video recorders while ad blocking software and apps allow internet users to stop online ads from being served on their screens. Most people predict that ad blocking will become even more popular in 2016 since Apple’s new operating systems will include a framework that makes it easy for developers to create ad-blocking software. What will the internet be without ads?

No lie, I LOVE ads and advertising, (well I must, it pays my salary!) Nonetheless, there are times that the pop up ads or the You Tube pre-roll ads negatively affect my internet experience. Some people affectionately support ad blocking because of the few ad interruptions that they may encounter, but the truth is we need ads for the internet to remain free. We all should be worried that ad blocking will destroy the free web and bring drastic rise to subscription websites and apps.

Publishers have to pay developers, designers, writers, producers etc. If audiences are to continue getting free entertainment and content from the internet, revenues have to come from ads. The big question is how do we balance the user experience and the needs of the publishers and advertisers?

Some companies like Yahoo in the US are already talking about blocking ad-blockers and have taken action by preventing people from accessing their email if they are using ad-blocking software in their browser, while other companies like Digicel in the Caribbean are embracing the value of ad-blocking and are talking about integrating ad blocker software in their network. One thing is certain, advertisers and publishers will have to acknowledge the power of the audience/consumers and be innovative in how advertisement is delivered.

Ready for the cure?

Okay, well have you heard about Native Advertising? Well learn more about it because from where I sit, that is the future of advertising. Ads can no longer be disruptive or intrusive they need to be relevant, entertaining, informative and engaging to get the conscious attention of consumers or clients. Native ads are simple advertising formats that are “native” to the publisher. Essentially it needs to mirror or replicate the format and function of the publisher's platform. So a native ad on Facebook or Twitter would be the sponsored posts that appear on your Home Page/Timeline while on news websites or apps such as Loop and Buzzfeed native ads would be a story, info-graphics, quizzes or videos that appears as normal as any other news item would but they are really sponsored posts. These types of advertising messages tend to be most powerful because they consciously captivate the consumers’ attention and have the potential to go viral on the internet. Amazingly native advertising does not disrupt the content the audience is viewing, it is the content that the audience actively choose to view/experience. Therefore there is no room or need for ad blocking.

How great is it when as marketer you can create an ad message that consumers actively search for to watch or read and are proud to share with their friends!