PC World – December 2015

for publishers.
In a frank post on recently, a senior executive of the largest online
advertising trade group admitted that the surge in online ads over
the years—and the accompanying performance issues—have
alienated many.
“We messed up,” wrote Scott Cunningham, senior vice president of
technology of the Internet Advertising Bureau and general manager
of its Tech Lab. “As technologists tasked
Across Europe,
the report said 77
million people are
using ad blockers, a
35 percent increase
in the past year.
with delivering content and services to
users, we lost track of the user experience.”
The IAB is composed of 650 organizations
that serve some 86 percent of online
advertisements.
An effect of the ads has been the
increasing use of tools such as Adblock Plus,
which blocks advertisements from being
served by known ad servers.
A report (go.pcworld.com/adblockingreport) released in August
forecasted that U.S. websites will lose US$21.8 billion in ad revenue
this year due to ad blockers. Use of ad-blocking tools rose 48
percent in the United States in the last year to around 45 million
users.
Across Europe, the report said 77 million people are using ad
blockers, a 35 percent increase in the past year.
The report was written by PageFair, an Irish company which helps
websites count users who block ads, and Adobe Systems.
Cunningham acknowledged that the industry’s practices over the
years have been in part responsible for the shift.
“We were so clever and so good at it that we over-engineered the
capabilities of the plumbing laid down by, well, ourselves,”
Cunningham wrote. “This steamrolled the users, depleted their
devices and tried their patience.”
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