Articles about Advertising

EE is looking to start a debate on a particularly sensitive topic -- online ads on mobile platforms. According to a news report by Tech Radar, the British mobile network operator and internet service provider is weighing its options on the idea of blocking advertising on a network level.

Chief executive Olaf Swantee said it’s an important debate about customer control.

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Ad-blocking on both desktop and mobile devices is becoming more and more common. But does this mean advertisers are increasingly wasting their time?

A new survey of over 500 consumers by consumer intelligence and predictive marketing company Boxever reveals that 70 percent of consumers surveyed say they're likely or extremely likely to use ad-blocking apps, and another 15 percent said they'd consider it.

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Online ads are a major bugbear for web users, hence the existence of ad blocking software. Tools such as AdBlock Plus have long been popular, but despite efforts by publishers to discourage their use, more and more people rely on ad blockers to improve their online experience.

The Internet Advertising Bureau reports that ad blocking is on the rise. In the UK, 18 percent of people use software to prevent the appearance of ads -- up from 15 percent just five months ago. Not everyone, however, is looking to block every single ad they might encounter.

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There’s no avoiding it; ad-blocking is a direct result of consumer demand. Adland has had its own way for too long and now the traffic is two-way we should view this as an opportunity to hit the reset button.

Let’s get this in context however; announcements such as Apple’s recent iOS9 update may have raised the profile of ad-blocking, but uptake is far from exponential. We’re not facing the Adpocalypse here, what we’re looking at is the balance being redressed.

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The latest desktop buzz is about Windows 10, the new operating system from Microsoft that’s free to those who have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. A lot of theories are going around about how Microsoft plans to monetize its software now that the company is giving it away.

Will it be a subscription like Office 365, will it go the advertising route or will it charge for extras, like playing Solitaire? It could very well be any of these options or all but one thing is certain; Microsoft needs to make money from its new and improved operating system.

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What strikes me most about the reaction to Apple’s decision to allow iPhone and iPad Safari browsers to block advertising via third-party software extensions is its reason for doing so.

According to the BBC an Apple spokeswoman claimed the decision was made "for an improved mobile browsing experience". Some users support this view with one such comment from Peter Steinberger -- "Ad blocking on iOS 9 makes such a big difference in page load times, it’s not even funny".

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For a company that doesn’t rely on advertising to make its money, Apple was never going to lose anything by allowing adblockers into the App Store unlike, say, Google.

Still, the recent move has certainly proved divisive. On one hand, websites that rely on advertising to survive have been bracing themselves for a loss of revenue, while many iPhone users have welcomed the change. Web pages reportedly load quicker in Safari without adverts, and if you’re on a capped mobile data plan you’ll benefit from the savings created by not downloading ads. The big question was always whether the move would impact advertisers in any meaningful way, and the early indications are that it has certainly made a difference, although it’s far from the "adblockolypse" many predicted.

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YouTube has announced it’s adding new capabilities to the advertising on the site. Yay, more ads on our YouTube videos, who wouldn’t be happy?

Anyway, long story short -- marketers will be able to buy ads which will be displayed during product-focused videos, such as game reviews, unboxings, product reviews and how-to videos.

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Ad blocking has been in the news quite a lot recently, not least because of iOS 9's new support for advertising avoidance. Perhaps the most famous tool in the arena is Adblock Plus. It's something that many people have become reliant on for cleaning up their online experience but Eyeo -- the company behind AdBlock Plus -- has been keen to encourage people to permit the display of some advertising through its Acceptable Ads program.

That companies can pay to bypass Adblock Plus is nothing new, although Adblock Plus insists that most ads that are deemed 'acceptable' are added for free. Today Eyeo announces that it is going to hand over control of the Acceptable Ads program to a completely independent board.

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That a company behind an ad-blocking tool should defend ad-blocking should hardly come as a surprise, but that is precisely what has happened. Ad blockers have been much talked about since Apple opened up support for them in iOS 9. The now infamous Peace shot to the top of the download charts before it was pulled by its creator.

Now AdBlock Plus has come out in support of Marco Arment who developed something of a guilty conscience after his ad blocking creation proved so popular. Ben Williams from AdBlock Plus says "I really applaud this guy", going on to suggest that whitelisting and the Acceptable Ads feature of AdBlock Plus epitomize the "more nuanced, complex approach" Arment called for.

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Ad-blockers are proving to be extremely popular with the early adopters of iOS 9. Shortly after the operating system's debut, Peace skyrocketed to the top of the paid apps chart on Apple's App Store, taking Minecraft: Pocket Edition's place on the podium, while rival Purify Blocker has risen to fourth place.

Current leader Peace is the work of iOS developer Marco Arment, best known for the popular read-it-later app Instapaper. Since Peace will surely get the attention of many more users, let's take a look at what it has to offer.

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After some time in the beta stage, Adblock web browser for iOS and Android is as of today officially available in version 1.0.

"Adblock Browser for Android was in an open beta for a while now, and thanks to the amazing feedback we received there, we were able to evolve it into something we’re proud to release", it says in the official news post following the release.

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Twitter has inadvertently given a wealth of priceless advertising to a Welsh car company despite refusing to run its ads. Used car dealership Ceir Cymru has been operating in North Wales for over 30 years, but has been told that it is not able to advertise in its native tongue.

Twitter Ads supports just a limited number of language, and Welsh is not included. Having applied to use the service Ceir Cymru was told by Twitter that it would not be able to advertise as more than half of its tweets are in Welsh -- hardly surprising for a car dealership in Wales. Ceir Cymru says Twitter is "stamping on minority languages".

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The advertising industry could be in for a rude awakening, with the growing adblock trend snatching $21.8 billion in revenue from the web in 2015. This figure is expected to grow, with a report from PageFair and Adobe claiming a potential $41.4 billion in lost advertising revenue by 2016 worldwide.

In the UK, adblock services grew up 82 percent, with 12 million users deciding to block adverts. AdBlock Plus is the most popular service, which provides a large database of blocked adverts alongside some approved adverts that are not obnoxious.

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The next update to Apple’s mobile web browser Safari will include a way to block annoying ads, working similar to AdBlock Plus on desktop browsers.

Under the banner of user experience, Apple promoted the new loading system capable of blocking JavaScript, cookies and even images from displaying. The system came to the desktop version of Safari first. Users will be able to opt-in to this experience on iOS 9.

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