Solutions to revenue loss from Adblocking - for publishers

[MrX123]

Hi Guys

Can you please share your views on how you would solve the adblocking problem for publishers?
the pros and cons of each solution you might offer.

Thank you very much! Really appreciate your time.


I am involved in the technology side of solutions to help publishers with loss of revenue from adblocking (fairly new..hence still learning :) )

[tangor]

Most ad blocking tech deals with third party automated ads. If you want to help publishers then educate them to consider doing their own first party advertising.and collect the fees from the advertisers directly.

[MrX123]

But adblockers can identify these and block them too can't they?

[bill]

They can if you use standard advertising naming schemes. Even 1st party images named "ad-banner.jpg" can get blocked. Don't make it clear that the content is advertising in the folder or files naming and you should be OK.

[MrX123]

But that wont work with tags i get from other advertisers like adsense etc, will it?

[robzilla]

Selling ads directly to advertisers and coding them in such a way that they're not blocked can work for some sites. Advantages are more ad impressions, better load times (probably) and you don't have to share the revenue (higher eCPMs basically). Unfortunately, you'll need to have a site with a fair amount of advertiser interest, and put more hours into ad management, sales, invoicing, etc. Do note that a knowledgeable ad blocker user can add a custom filter for your site to the shared ad blocking filter lists; then you're in a cat and mouse game.

For most sites, other options like donations and subscriptions are rather limited in terms of revenue potential. I'm expecting my ad network-supported sites to collapse in the not too distant future, so I'm working on creating and expanding sites with other revenue models (or with ample advertiser interest).

As netmeg aptly wrote, this ship has sailed. It's good to look at alternatives, since there aren't really any real "solutions" to ad blocking.

[MrX123]

Would you be interested in trying out a new technology that provides ads that can't be blocked? (looking for beta testers)

[robzilla]

What is different about those ads, that they cannot be blocked? Can't I just write a filter for those ads?

[MrX123]

They are randomized and unique. Its like local ad server but in the cloud. You can write filters but you will only be blocking the one you already see :) and when you refresh, there is a new one.

Please send me a private message if you want to beta test this. Would be great to learn from you.
thank you!

[robzilla]

You'd still not be able to load third-party ads like AdSense, so for most publishers that wouldn't be a solution. And if you're serving first-party ads, ad blockers shouldn't really be a problem so long as you don't "make it clear that the content is advertising", as bill wrote.

[tangor]

Not just "ad blockers" but js killers, too, will take out that kind of advertising. Anything that is third Party (and that means anything not on the domain itself) is subject to user intervention.

Grow your own ad department (can be as small as "just you" and go from there. It's more work but the dollars are better and both advertiser and user satisfaction is much greater (provided you don't screw it up).