Why #adblocking or #adblock software is creating a controversy in the world of #advertising. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/09/adblock-software123/

Adblock Plus, a controversial tech tool that allows you to remove pesky advertisements from your web pages, released a mobile browser for iOS on Tuesday to complement its existing software for Android.

The Adblocking Controversy

Just under five percent of Internet users take advantage of adblocking software in some form, and those numbers are increasing every year. In addition to the obvious boon of cleaning up the aesthetic of a page’s content – so it’s easier for you to read and enjoy – adblock software can decrease data consumption, improve battery life, and protect you from malware, viruses, data theft, and the like.

But the revenue from web page advertisements is also integral to the business models of many tech companies, especially content creators. This is no different than the revenue generated by print advertisements in your local newspaper that make distribution possible; the practice is as old as media itself. Adblock software can throw – and is throwing – the system off-balance, forcing companies to consider new revenue models like asking consumers to pay for content.

The Mobile Adblock Plus

It’s due to this controversy that Google removed the Adblock Plus mobile browser option (for Android) from its PlayStore–it’s been in exile since March 2013. But this week has seen the return of the Android Adblock browser as well as the launch of a version for the iPhone, just one day prior to the Apple release of similar mobile adblocking options on iOS 9.

Apple itself, as a company, has historically strayed away from getting involved with adblock software. Perhaps by taking greater control over its development, they hope to contribute to a compromise between content producers and content consumers that cleans up advertisement options and doesn’t disrupt current revenue models too much. But with the increasing popularity of adblock software, a shift in the standards may be inevitable.

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Adblock Software Proves To Be Controversial

#AdBlockers may be good for you, but spell detrimental affects on #publishing industry entities. - http://clapway.com/2015/08/11/publishers-say-that-a-rise-in-ad-blocking-software-is-costing-them-billions-242/

People who use ad blocking extensions in their web browser do so because they believe it brings them a sense of peace and relief not typically found in normal browsing capacity. In the early days of the web, annoying ad pop-ups often hindered a user’s browsing experience, and while ads have grown to be a lot less intrusive, there are still a good number of advertisers who don’t follow good advertising etiquette.

PageFair and Adobe published a report on Monday that showed that usage of ad blocking software has grown 41 percent worldwide. The total number of active users hovers right around 198 million every month.

Ad Blocking Software Climbs to 198 Million Users

According to Business Insider, the 198 million consumers using ad blocking software only account for about 6 percent of the entire population of the web. However, publishers are expecting to lose at least $21.8 billion in 2015 alone, and that number is predicted to climb up to $41.4 billion by 2016, according to Adobe and PageFair.

Now, these numbers aren’t really fair to quote because it isn’t costing publishers any money to not run advertisements; these massive numbers are purely figurative, which is an important distinction to make.

One graph published in the report illustrates that the growth of ad blocking software really didn’t change much until 2013. From July 2009 to June 2013 the user base grew from 21 million users to 54 million. But from July 2013 to January 2015 the user base exploded from 54 million to 181 million.

Ad Blocking Has Gone Mainstream

Ad blocking software is usually tied to a browser extensions – there is very few ad blocking software that is standalone – so the people behind the software usually aren’t advertising their product. That means that most of the new users probably heard about the software from word of mouth, or simply being fed up enough with ads to do their own research.

Most ad blocking software is developed for desktops and laptops since mobile users need to be jailbroken (iPhones) or rooted (Android phones). But a new change in Apple’s development practices will soon change the playing field for mobile devices. Business Insider also stated that Apple’s Safari browser makes up about 52 percent of all mobile browsing, and features in iOS9 will enable software developers to create ad blocking software, whereas they previously haven’t been able to. Android commands a majority of the market, but is developed by Google, an advertising giant. Google has already removed ad blocking software from the Play Store, so it will be interesting to see if Google announces anything similar for the Android platform.

Users Are Fed Up with Ads

In Adobe and PageFair’s report, they surveyed 400 people in the US about why they have started using ad blocking software. According to them, many users don’t trust the way advertisers and publishers handle their personal information. Younger people believed that there has been an increase in the number of ads shown online, and noted that as the primary reason they’ve began to use ad blockers.

Many ad blockers don’t block all advertisements, however. Non-intrusive ads are usually whitelisted by default, though users can manually choose to block ads on a page with certain software.

Do you use ad blocking software? Let us know in the comments!

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Publishers Say That a Rise in Ad Blocking Software Is Costing Them Billions