Solutions to revenue loss from Adblocking - for publishers

[MrX123]

Hi Guys,

Can you please share your views on how you would solve the adblocking problem for publishers?
The pros and cons of each solution you might offer.

Thank you very much! Really appreciate your time.


I am involved in the technology side of solutions to help publishers with loss of revenue from adblocking (fairly new..hence still learning )

 

[Digital Phoenix]

Stop serving annoying video, audio, flashy ads.
Stop covering every single bit of free space with annoying video, audio, flashy ads. And people won't need to resort to ad blockers.

 

[mysiteguy]

No, that makes no difference.

People who run ad blockers tend to block all ads on all sites, whether they are ad heavy or ad light. The increase in the use of ad blockers has less to do with the types of ads run, and more to do with the ease of installing ad blockers and much more awareness of them since they became available on iPhone.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

Stop serving malvertising

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Stop using third-party ad services and start making your own unique ways of selling advertisements. Third-parties are the ones who are blocked the most, your own unique ways of advertising are going to be more difficult to block especially if you keep changing the way the ads are served. Third-party services are tempting, I know but screw the middle man, if you become successful with your own system, you can collect dollars instead of pennies. My few cents...no pun!

 

[SaN-DeeP]

Shawn Gossman Any suggestions for implementing our own system. ?

 

[ozzy47]

Shawn Gossman Any suggestions for implementing our own system. ?

Have you read his article?

 

[SaN-DeeP]

Have you read his article?

Yes.
But i assume the person was talking about implenting our own advertisement system to sell ads (which will cut the middleman and give us more revenue).. and + it will be hard to get blocked on ad-blocker systems..

 

[JQP]

Stop serving annoying video, audio, flashy ads.
Stop covering every single bit of free space with annoying video, audio, flashy ads. And people won't need to resort to ad blockers.

And AJAXy popups, and "Join our mailing list" popups, and giant expando-ads, and "NO! Please don't leave!" ads, and "You gotta see this! Number 39 will blow your mind!" click bait ads, and mobile hijack ads, and non-muted, auto-play video ads, and ads that shift what you're reading around.

The industry is killing itself. Grrrrrr.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Yes.
But i assume the person was talking about implenting our own advertisement system to sell ads (which will cut the middleman and give us more revenue).. and + it will be hard to get blocked on ad-blocker systems..

I'd use one of the many advertising system plugins offered by forum software platform modders and just sell ads directly, rather than through a service or some ad server like Google and others that are being blocked out the most.

 

[esquire]

Stop using third-party ad services and start making your own unique ways of selling advertisements. Third-parties are the ones who are blocked the most, your own unique ways of advertising are going to be more difficult to block especially if you keep changing the way the ads are served. Third-party services are tempting, I know but screw the middle man, if you become successful with your own system, you can collect dollars instead of pennies. My few cents...no pun!

It's a nice article. Unfortunately the suggestions won't work at all for many sites that don't directly revolve around user loyalty. The fact is legitimate sites showing a moderate number of ads shouldn't lose out because others are abusers. And most definitely ad blocker's should be allowed to do what many are really doing - extortionware (pay us to remove you from our filter.)

Companies such as Apple don't mind having ad blockers in Safari if it means driving users to their own proprietary walled publishing apps. Ideally they would prefer CNN, the WSJ, Gizmodo as an iOS app. Why? Because in their ecosystem they can prohibit anyone from blocking iAds which means Apple users will see the ads, like it or not, and publishers will pay Apple to ensure that the public gets served....

So... another alternative I've seen that I like are ad blocker detector scripts, which work in a number of ways I won't describe here. A message pops up that either says (a) our site doesn't work with ad blocking enabled; or (b) requests that the user disable ad blocking for the site because the user likes the site, the ads are reasonable and necessary for the survival of the site.

I have taken other measures to attempt to minimize the impact of ad blockers on our site, with the exception of Google which will require the method I mentioned.

 

[Joeychgo]

Stop covering every single bit of free space with annoying video, audio, flashy ads. And people won't need to resort to ad blockers.

The problem with this statement is that people install an adblocker and rarely if ever turn it off unless there is a reason to.


Fact is, more and more publishers are fighting back. Sites like forbes.com wont let you view the site at all with an adblocker.

See: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35602332

I am in the process now of placing affiliate ads where adsense would normally be if adblocker is detected. I am also contemplating having an addon coded that would replace all user posted photos with a "Please turn off your adblocker to view" message. I also offer users the ability to donate to the site and in exchange give them an ad free experience.

 

[JQP]

I am in the process now of placing affiliate ads where adsense would normally be if adblocker is detected. I am also contemplating having an addon coded that would replace all user posted photos with a "Please turn off your adblocker to view" message. I also offer users the ability to donate to the site and in exchange give them an ad free experience.

Interesting approaches. I like the one about blocking images. Cut some content but don't run the people off by blocking all of it. If I hit a site that blocks content for one reason or another - or buries me in ads - I just cross the site off my list and look somewhere else. Just create a small nuisance for them and they might think "Oh. Ok. I guess I should do that. This site isn't so bad with the ads anyway." I would think.

Ad-free with a donation? Nah. I wouldn't like the position that would put me in. How do you ban a jerk who gave you 50 bucks? And similar thoughts on premium memberships. I haven't seen a site yet that I've been so enthralled with that I'd pay for a premium membership, my own site included.

 

[Joeychgo]

Nah. I wouldn't like the position that would put me in. How do you ban a jerk who gave you 50 bucks?

Easy, I've been doing it for over 10 years on several sites. People understand that websites cost money to develop, manage, maintain and operate. If you do it right, they want to give. One of my cardinal rules is not to treat paid members differently as far as discipline, but I'm not a hard ass on my sites anyway.

No ads isn't the only perk, but its one of them.

 

[Digital Phoenix]

Jim McClain you can disagree all you like, old boy. The fact if the matter is, the reasons I stated above are why people resort to adblock in the first place.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Jim McClain you can disagree all you like, old boy. The fact if the matter is, the reasons I stated above are why people resort to adblock in the first place.

In my experience people installing ad-blockers generally don't want to see any advertising at all regardless of how unobtrusive or in your face it might be.

The problem with this statement is that people install an adblocker and rarely if ever turn it off unless there is a reason to.

If ad-blockers installed with nothing blocked by default I think they would be far less contentious. I've recently had to installed one myself, something I thought I'd never do. The current version of Firefox often becomes unresponsive or crashes completely when visiting ad heavy sites. Within a few hours I'd forgotten it was there.

 

[esquire]

In my experience people installing ad-blockers generally don't want to see any advertising at all regardless of how unobtrusive or in your face it might be.

The obtrusive video ads and popup onslaught are the justification for ad blockers. There are some big name sites that are obnoxious. But now that people can do it, they will not stop. How many people stopped using Napster because artists complained that they couldn't make a living if people didn't buy their products? And read the comments - virtually none of these people really care about a site's financial health. They frequently reply (a) they'll find the same somewhere else; (b) served you right for relying upon a poor advertising based model so you deserved to go away; (c) if nobody is being prosecuted, then it's perfectly acceptable to do it.

Joeychgo - Using sponsorships is a good idea but for the fact that the ad blocker doesn't care what it is - it may even block your "photo of the day" or something beneficial. I've had to resort to some unusual tactics to get my own internal "call to action" areas to even show. There is an aggressive take on not wanting to see anything that looks like ads.

If ad-blockers installed with nothing blocked by default I think they would be far less contentious. I've recently had to installed one myself, something I thought I'd never do. The current version of Firefox often becomes unresponsive or crashes completely when visiting ad heavy sites. Within a few hours I'd forgotten it was there.

Every single site is blocked by default unless you whitelist / remove it from the filter - even the good ones. Unless something really moves a user, those sites will remain blocked until eternity.

 

[mysiteguy]

Jim McClain you can disagree all you like, old boy. The fact if the matter is, the reasons I stated above are why people resort to adblock in the first place.

Ummmm... where did Jim post in this thread?

 

[zappaDPJ]

Ummmm... where did Jim post in this thread?

He didn't as such but he did hit 'disagree' on this post.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

My post about malvertising got a downvote too. It's a legitimate reason for tech-savvy users to use an adblocker and advise non-tech savvy users to use one too