When it comes to delivering ads to online consumers, it’s extremely difficult to do it when they are using online ad blockers to stop your ads from being seen. So, why not make ads that won’t be so annoying, then that way users won’t mind them so much, right? That sounds great on paper, but in reality, it’s much more difficult to deliver those sort of ads.
According to forcaster eMarketer, they estimate that this year, 70 million people in the US will be using ad blockers. This is a 35 percent growth year over year. It’s estimated that, this time next year, almost 87 million internet users in the US will be making use of ad blockers.
It was earlier this year that PageFair released a mobile ad blocking report that said that 419 million people worldwide used ad blockers on mobile devices. The majority of users were in Asia, although there were fewer in Europe and North America. eMarketer’s projections suggest that about one-thrid of US internet users will be blocking ads this time next year.
CivicScience, an online polling firm, says that 55 percent of survey respondents had ad blockers on their PCs, and 25 percent had them on their smartphones. The survey included over 11,000 mobile and PC users over the last six months.
There’s a good chance that these figures are higher than the general internet population, but either way, it’s still worrisome to publishers and marketers, those who’s income relies on ads. Here’s some demographic data that CivicScience captured in the survey:
- Mobile blockers are more likely to be 25 to 54 years old; desktop blockers skew younger or older.
- Mobile blockers have higher incomes; 34 percent had incomes over $100,000.
- Mobile blockers are more likely to be parents than desktop blockers.
- African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Caucasians to be mobile blockers.
The data also examined ad blocking and various affinities, like device ownership, fashion, interest in sports, political engagement, fitness and brand affinities. Check out the CivicScience’s webinar for more of that data.