With the rise of adblocking software it appears digital publishers are set to fight back banning visitors who use it from accessing content or forcing them to pay more to access it.
Channel Nine – whose sites include ninemsn, Daily Mail Australia and 9Jumpin – is reportedly the first local publisher to put the initiatives in place, with News Corp also considering a similar move.
This follows on from a report released last week that actually found most people use adblocking software because it chews up data on their devices not because they don’t necessarily like the ads.
The issue around adblocking came to a head in September when Apple announced that users of its phones and tablets could now download the software via its new iOS9 operating system – sending fear and panic across the globe’s digital publishers who rely on the ads to fund content.
Alex Parsons, managing director of Mi9, Nine’s digital media business said in The Australian: “Ad-blocking software has been with us for some time. However, the introduction to mobile will likely see some increase in their use. We have been blocking content when ad blockers are in use with our video content.
“We advise users that we are an ad-funded model and that they will need to turn their ad blockers off to view our premium content,” he said.
Both Nine and News are reportedly considering technology that identifies users with the technology on their devices and make them pay more to view content. They could also ask users to disable the software before accessing their sites or there could be a shift to app-based products where adblocking technology doesn’t work.
In worse news for publishers, Adobe recently predicted that if it hadn’t already, adblocking software would soon hit 200 million users globally which could mean as much as $40 billion in lost potential revenues.
In Australia, it’s estimated that 3.7 million Aussies use adblocking software and that number is growing 20 per cent year on year. That could cut $1.4 billion in revenues from the estimated $14 billion revenue annually.
