The recent news that took publishers and advertisers by storm came from apple in the form of ad blocking extensions. This update of iOS 9, released in September 2015 has sparked a new debate whether it’s the dead end for publishers and advertisers who depend on ads for revenues or is it Apple v/s Publishers/Advertisers?
So, basically, if we expand our vision it says that it a fight between Apple and Google! Though none of the Apple updates will come with a default ad blocking settings, but a user can change it through the Pay store apps. If a user wants to block the ads on Safari browser then he needs to install an ad blocking extension from App store and tune the settings as per your preferences for blocking and excluding the different ads.
If it becomes a popular trend then the ad blocking trend will also reach Android and ultimately the revenues of Publishers and Advertisers will be lost.
When it comes to ad blocking, it surely is not a new thing and popular web browsers still support ABP and AdBlock plugins which can be easily used with Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer etc. However, the key difference here is that Apple’s ad blockers are targeted on Mobile users and that’s where the catch is. Maximum mobile users are now days using phones to browse and that’s why its impact will be great. More importantly, Safari is the most popular mobile browser in the entire US. One of the most popular ad blockers that is released is Purify which will wipe out all sorts of ads from screens.
It will cut down the revenues manifolds in upcoming years and secondly, it will prompt the publishers and advertisers to raise the standard of their content and move towards in-app marketing.
Ad Blockers are a benefit to the users as they can manage what they want to see or not! Irritating pop-ups eating their time and money will be a relief! However, ad blockers on phones are not successful as they hinder the performance, drain the battery and eat up the memory space. However, how it will work is uncertain till now.
Publishers might be forced to depend upon apps like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and others to discover fruitful platforms and these platforms will emerge as a decision maker for their content radar and ads display. Big publishers might not be that much troubled, yet it’s not the same case for small publishers and bloggers who don’t have a strong impact and influence. So, the verdict is- they will be hurt a lot. This move may also face a backlash and create too many enemies for Apple on Internet space. These enemies might gang up and hamper the web experience for Apple users.
We might ignore these ads but actually these advertisements, besides annoying are also of great use and serve a purpose which must be highlighted in this discussion. Ads provide content for free and ensure larger exposure of the content to the internet users. Shooting them down indirectly points that we are shutting our favorite websites!
Surprisingly there is an interesting perspective to this argument:
> It will push the idea of app first economy and drive traffic towards the certified apps and force publishers to follow the leads.
> This will drive away the traditional model of advertisements and bring something new.
> Raise the bar of content and move towards a new usher era of app generation.
> The in-app ads will raise the inventory and the publishers will bank more on them.
> Non intrusive ads will come into play which an ad blocker cannot block.
> The supply will be meant only for interested candidates now.
Get your ads white listed and strategize something new now!
Vipin Jain is the Co-Founder and CEO at Konstant Infosolutions and is in charge of marketing, project management, administration and R&D at the company. With his marketing background, Vipin Jain has developed and honed the company’s vision, corporate structure & initiatives and its goals, and brought the company into the current era of success.
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